USPHL Elite 2023-24 Atlantic Division Players Of The Month: February 2024

Summaries By Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com 

Selection Process: The league media office sends statistical leaders to divisional coaches for review and coaches either approve or challenge the nominations. 

Forward: Jace Lombardo, Rockets Hockey Club 

One of two Rockets players to put their stamp on the USPHL Elite for future seasons, Lombardo (‘04/Staten Island, N.Y.) rode a nine-goal, 23-assist, 32-point February and early March into the Top 5 all-time in the USPHL Elite. The two-year Rockets forward put up 59 goals and 88 assists for 147 points in 72 games, good for a 2.04 career point per game average. This season, Lombardo was the only player in the Elite to register two scoring streaks of at least 14 games and he finished with 113 points on the season.

Forward: John Crowdell, Rockets Hockey Club 

Speaking of history, this ‘03 from Staten Island broke the all-time career scoring record for the USPHL Elite on Feb. 9 at the Northern Cyclones Showcase against the Springfield Pics. He put an exclamation point on that by scoring a hat trick and adding an assist in that game. By the time the season ended in early March, Crowdell put up a run of 24 points (12-12-24) in his final 10 games en route to his current record of 191 points in 87 games. This season alone, he finished with 108 points, second only to Lombardo’s record single season mark. 

Forward: Tyler Hamlin, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights

Hamlin (‘05/Binghamton, N.Y.) was a huge difference-maker for the Knights, who finished first in the Elite Atlantic Division for the third straight season, i.e. their entire existence in the Elite Conference. A rookie junior player, Hamlin shot right to the top of the Knights scoring leaderboard with a point-per-game performance for the season with 42 points in 42 games. He finished February with nine goals and seven assists for 16 points, which was part of a season-ending 12-game streak of 17 goals and eight assists for 25 points. 

Defense: Peter Allen, P.A.L. Jr. Islanders

With last year’s Atlantic Division representatives at Nationals playing each other, the Jr. Islanders have a chance to qualify for their first “big dance” this weekend against an obviously potent Rockets Hockey Club. In order to make it, their leaders will have to be just that on the ice, as Allen has been all season. The ‘06 from Oceanside, N.Y., is a career Jr. Islander who more than doubled his 2022-23 points output in the Elite this season by putting up 37 points in 41 games. That put him into the top 10 of Elite defenseman scoring for an individual and team first. In February, he closed with a goal and five assists for six points. 

Defense: Page Jones, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights 

Jones (‘04/Los Angeles, Calif.) played 22 games with the Elite Knights this year, while also getting eight games up with the Premier Knights, with six of those coming in January and February. During the month of February, Jones put up a 2-3-5 line in six games for the Knights, which helped them ride a 10-game winning streak to the end of the season and seal up that No. 1 seed in the division. In his 22 games, Jones put up 11 points and he added a 1-1-2 line in his eight Premier outings. 

Goaltender: Andrew Zang, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights 

Zang (‘04/Carrollton, Texas) was a big driving force for that 10-game Knights winning streak, by earning four victories of his own in a 4-0 run, including an amazing shutout of 45 saves against the Jersey Hitmen – the same team they’re facing in the USPHL Elite Atlantic Division playoffs this weekend. He also stopped 54 of 55 in his second game of sweeping the Northern Cyclones, one of two Elite teams already booked for the USPHL Nationals. For the month, he stopped 163 of 173 shots for a .942 save percentage. His season record was 7-1-0-0 with a .949 save percentage.