By Joshua Boyd / USPHLPremier.com
While many of the Eastern USPHL teams took part in two showcases last weekend, it was head-to-head business as usual across the west. The Red River Spartans were part of the USPHL Southeast Showcase, and used that opportunity to improve their standing to first in the Great Lakes Division. In the Northwest, a big series is shaping up between the undefeated Vernal Oilers (5-0) and Seattle Totems (4-0), and in the Pacific, the Lake Tahoe Lakers have been strong out of the gate, going 5-0 before taking their first loss.
We’ll take a closer look below at all the teams that finished with as many points as games played between Sept. 27 and Oct. 3 below.
Northwest Division
Vernal Oilers Looking Dominant To Start At 5-0
The Oilers are off to a great start, but of course that’s what they’re used to having. They did, after all, go 19-0-0-0 out of the gate in the 2022-23 season, certainly the best start for a brand new team in the Premier. Recently, the Oilers enjoyed a decisive victory in their first meeting with the new Bremerton Sockeyes. From there, they traveled to Bellingham, Wash., and won a 5-2 game and then got their second double-digit goal tally of the weekend on Sunday. The Oilers are bringing in the equally undefeated Seattle Totems, against whom they have an all-time regular season series record of 11-0-1-0.
- Their goal total through five games of 41 goals is impressive, but trails a bit behind their 2022-23 opening outburst of 49 goals in five games.
- Third-year Premier veteran Dominik Griessmer (‘04/Great Falls, Mont.) stands in a tie for sixth in league scoring at 7-8-15 in five games.
Seattle Totems Earn Two Decisive Wins To Improve To 4-0
The Totems defeated the first-year Iron County Yeti by double digit goal differentials, and are set to go up against the 5-0 Vernal Oilers for the first time this season. They have matched the Oilers’ 41 goals, and in one less game.
- Roman Wolynec (‘05/Langley, B.C.) stands second in league scoring, posting a 5-16-21 line through just four games. That does put him at No. 1 in points per game, at 5.25, among players with multiple games played.
- Defenseman Felix Palla (‘06/Gyor, Hungary) leads the Premier’s defensemen with a line of 3-9-12.
North Division
Dells Ducks Kick Off Season With Pair Of Wins
The Ducks began 2024-25 by earning a sweep of the Minnesota Blue Ox, winning 6-4 and 6-3. They are already one better than their 1-3 season series record against the Blue Ox in 2023-24. The Ducks travel to face Steele County this weekend.
- This marked the first time in their eight-year Premier history that the Ducks have begun a season with a sweep.
- The Ducks also got three goals and one assist apiece over the first weekend from newcomers and Premier veterans Jonathan Jakshoj (‘05/Kobenhavn, Denmark) and Angelo Massaro (‘04/Palatine, Ill.)
Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings Start Out With Three-Point Weekend
The Riverkings took away three of a possible four points in their opening weekend against the Minnesota Mullets, who defeated the Riverkings 3-2 in Wisconsin Rapids’ Sept. 27 opener. They came back on Saturday night with a 6-3 win. The Riverkings are on the road this weekend against the Isanti Outlaws.
- The Riverkings went 2-2 against the Mullets last year, and their record against the upcoming Outlaws was 3-0-0-1.
- Returning Riverkings Owen Tutich (‘04/Greensburg, Pa.) and Bryce Cooper (‘04/Boise, Idaho) each lead the team with three points. Cooper is in his fourth Premier season, and third with the Riverkings. He now has 69 points in 126 regular season games in the league.
Hudson Havoc Start Season With Victory, Laager Scores Five Goals
The Havoc plunged headfirst into the 2024-25 season with a 9-5 victory against new state-mates the Northwest Express, playing in their new home in Spooner, Wis.
- The nine goals scored by Hudson are the most in a season-opener since they scored 14 to open the 2020-21 season against the former Rochester Vipers.
- Bryce Laager (‘04/Blaine, Minn.) scored the season’s first five-goal game in the Sept. 28 opener. It’s not a surprise from the player who scored 18 goals in 18 Premier games last year, and has seen NCDC time in his career. He scored a shorthanded goal and a power play goal, and had the game-winner among the five goals. To have that be a career high is saying something for a player who had a four-goal game and two hat tricks among his 18 Premier games last year.
Steele County Blades Claim Win Against Minnesota Squatch
The Blades only played in one game in their second weekend of action, going up against a team that has become quite a rival for the Blades. Steele County beat the Squatch by a score of 6-3 on Sept. 28.
- Looking at the three-season all-time record, the Blades have evened up their mark against the Squatch at 5-5-0-0. The Squatch are one point better at 5-4-0-1. Minnesota won the 2023-24 season series by a 4-1-0-0 record.
- Premier veteran Jakub Tomecek (‘04/Des Moines, Iowa) put up a 3-1-4 mark through his first three games to lead his new team the Blades.
Minnesota Mullets Take Split Against Wisconsin Rapids
The Mullets were 3-2 winners in overtime on Friday night against the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings, and then fell 6-3 on Saturday.
- The Mullets are off to their best five-game start, at 3-1-1-0 for seven points. They registered six points over their first five games in each of their first four seasons between 2017-18 and 2020-21.
- Third-year Mullet Cade Anderson (‘07/Vail, Colo.) is co-leading the Premier in power play goals with four, tied with Elmira’s Michael Bottrell.
Great Lakes Division
Red River Spartans Register Five Points at USPHL Southeast Showcase
The Spartans are one of only three teams that have already played in nine games entering the first weekend of October. Almost half of that number were the four games played at the Southeast Showcase in Chesapeake, Va. The Spartans started out on Sept. 27 with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Juniors. After defeating the Atlanta MadHatters, 4-2, they took their second win on Saturday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights, 3-1. They finished on Sept. 29 with a 5-4 loss to the Potomac Patriots. The Spartans improved to 5-3-0-1 as they head into a series at the Battle Creek Kernels this weekend.
- Brayden Goncalves (‘04/Vancouver, B.C.) is leading the USPHL Premier in scoring with nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points. He has moved into fourth all-time in Spartans scoring with 72 points in 80 games.
- Another returning Spartan Gino Indelicato (‘05/Chicago, Ill.) is fourth in league scoring at 19 points in nine games. He is at sixth in all-time Spartans scoring, with 65 points.
Metro Jets Take Two More Wins To Start 3-0
The Jets are once again looking strong from the start. The Jets won 3-1 against the Battle Creek Kernels in a close contest that was 2-1 well into the third period. The next night, Sept. 28, the Jets were able to shut out their rival of more than three decades, the Toledo Cherokee. The Jets were 2-0 winners.
- Saturday was the first time since 2018-19 that the Jets have shut out the Cherokee. They had three “doughnuts” in that first USPHL season for both teams.
- Rostislav Efremov (‘04/Vladivostok, Russia), who was new to the Jets last year, enjoyed his first junior career shutout against the Cherokee. He stopped 31 shots for the win.
Cherokee, Freeze Go 1-1 For The Week
The 2-0 loss to the Metro Jets was a tough pill to swallow one night after the Cherokee defeated the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones by a nine-goal differential. The loss to the Jets was the Cherokee’s first on the year, leaving them at 4-1-0-0 entering the first weekend of October.
Elsewhere in the Great Lakes Division, the Fresh Coast Freeze earned their very first victory by defeating the Battle Creek Kernels, 5-4. Grant Coykendall (‘04/Kentwood, Mich.) scored the first-ever Freeze game-winning goal, and Dalton Haskins (‘05/Hudson, Wis.) stopped 54 of 58 for that win.
Pacific Division
San Diego Enjoys Three-Game Sweep Weekend
The Sabers, after a Sept. 27 win against Long Beach (documented in last week’s “This Week”), went on to win two more games against Bakersfield, 6-3, and the Ventura Vikings, 10-4.
- The Sabers are off to their second best start after five games, as they started the 2022-23 season at 4-1-0-0.
- Briar Dickson (‘08/Kingston, Ont.) scored only the second successful penalty shot goal in Sabers’ history on Saturday vs. Ventura. The last – and first – time a Saber scored on a penalty shot was Vladislav Suhhodolov on Jan. 8, 2021 vs. the Utica Jr. Comets during the Hub City Tampa event.
LakeTahoe Lakers Go 2-1-0-0 Against Henderson Force
The Lakers picked up their first two victories against the newly reminted Henderson Force in last weekend’s three-game series, winning 4-1 and 6-1, but the Force came back to claim Sunday’s victory at 6-4. Lake Tahoe travels out of division this weekend to go up against the Northwest’s Rogue Valley Royals.
- Picking up the two wins was a big relief for the Lakers, who fell in all six games to the Force’s brand predecessors the Las Vegas Thunderbirds last season.
- Returning Laker Carver Alford (‘05/Lake Tahoe, Calif.) is tied for second in defenseman scoring with 11 points in six games. Fellow blueliner Scott McNulty (‘04/Williamstown, N.J.) is also in the top 10.
Fresno Monsters Kick Off Season With Win
The Monsters have returned, and started their 2024-25 season on Oct. 3 with a 5-1 victory against the Long Beach Bombers. The Bombers will next bring in the Bakersfield Roughnecks Friday and Saturday, and Fresno takes on San Diego for two games.
- Elliot Hammarstrom (‘05/Sundsvall, Sweden) scored two goals to kick off both his Premier and North American hockey career.
- Hammarstrom’s former IF Sundsvall teammate Nils Tunbratt (‘05/Goteborg, Sweden) registered the team’s first GWG, and scored it shorthanded.
Bakersfield Roughnecks, Ontario Jr. Reign Split Weekend Series
Both the Bakersfield Roughnecks and Ontario Jr. Reign split their final weekends of September, though not in both games against each other. San Diego defeated the Roughnecks, 6-3, and then the Roughnecks defeated Ontario, 3-2. Prior to the Jr. Reign’s game with Bakersfield, they had defeated the Ventura Vikings, 9-2. Ontario goes on the road this weekend to Henderson, Nev., while Bakersfield goes up against the Long Beach Bombers Friday and Saturday.
