Hampton Roads Whalers USPHL Southeast Showcase Begins Thursday

by Joshua Boyd

September 20, 2022

The first event on the always exciting and comprehensive USPHL Showcase Series schedule will begin this Thursday, Sept. 22, when the puck drops for the USPHL Southeast Showcase in Chesapeake, Va. All games will be played at Chilled Ponds Ice Sports Complex, home of the Hampton Roads Whalers (and previously site of the 2021 USPHL […]

USPHL Elite Players Of The Week: Sept. 15, 2022

by Joshua Boyd

September 15, 2022September 15, 2022

USPHL Elite Players Of The Week: Sept. 15, 2022 By USPHL Staff The USPHL congratulates its first group of Players Of The Week, for this week only representing all of the league as only six teams competed last week. Going forward, Players Of The Week will be awarded by Division. Forward: Jake […]

USPHL Elite 2022-2023 Preview Series: Florida Division

by Joshua Boyd

September 9, 2022September 12, 2022

The Florida Division always puts together strong teams as they put heavy concentration on building towards ever-stronger Premier squads with high numbers of college commitments. They work on detailed development plans with all their players and help move them through the process from the Elite to the Premier and on to the college game. […]

USPHL Florida College Showcase Returns To Estero’s Hertz Arena Dec. 16-19

by Joshua Boyd

December 16, 2022December 16, 2022

The USPHL and the Florida Jr. Blades are excited to present the annual USPHL Florida College Showcase, hosted for the second straight season at the multi-sheet Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla. The showcase kicks off on Friday, Dec. 16, and concludes on Monday, Dec. 19. The Florida College Showcase will feature all 12 organizations playing […]

By Joshua Boyd / NCDCHockey.com

In connection with the prior announcement about the West Chester Wolves made on March 21, the Boston Junior Bruins have announced that they have sold their NCDC franchise to the West Chester Wolves effective in the 2024-25 season.

The Junior Bruins, charter members during the USPHL’s formation in 2012, and with teams at multiple Junior and Midget levels every year since the 2013-14 inaugural season, were also instrumental in the founding of the National Collegiate Development Conference ahead of its 2017-18 inaugural season. They won the second Dineen Cup title in the NCDC’s history, in 2019.

The Junior Bruins will remain members of the USPHL, competing at the USPHL Premier and USPHL Elite Tier III levels, while also continuing to field high performing Midget 18U and 16U teams in the Tier 1 Hockey Federation, through that league’s partnership with the USPHL.

The Boston Junior Bruins also lay claim to the first NCDC alum to reach the NHL, when Drew O’Connor (2017-18) reached the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins out of Dartmouth College in 2020-21. He has played this 2023-24 season exclusively with Pittsburgh in the NHL for the first time in his pro career. O’Connor was one of 60 eventual NCAA Division I players to have worn the Junior Bruins jersey during their time in the NCDC.

Former Junior Bruins Collin Graf and Yaniv Perets helped Quinnipiac University win the 2023 NCAA National Championship and have both been repeat Hobey Baker Award nominees. Graf is a Hobey Baker Award Top 10 Finalist this year.

As part of the overall transaction, Peter Masters has stepped down from the Executive Committee, and Murry Gunty has joined the Committee. We wish to thank Peter for his years of exceptional service to the USPHL.

About The NCDC
The National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) was founded in 2017 as the Tuition-Free Tier II conference of the United States Premier Hockey League, itself founded in 2012. The NCDC consists of 18 teams in three divisions, two on the Eastern Seaboard and one in the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Utah and Idaho.

The NCDC has sent more than 250 alumni to play NCAA Division I hockey, and more than 900 overall into NCAA college hockey. There were also more than 250 alumni in pro hockey around the world during the 2023-24 season. Former NCDC player Drew O’Connor has become a regular with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, and there have been seven players selected in the NHL Entry Draft from the NCDC.

The Northern Cyclones overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 en route to an eventual 3-2 Cyclones victory over the defending 2023 National Champion Carolina Jr. Hurricanes to seal up the 2023-24 National Championship.

Luke Waterson started the scoring for the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes at 8:07 of the first period, and they kept that lead going into the second period.

Noah Malcolm was the first Cyclone to get his team on the board exactly 1:00 into the second period, with assists from Owen Kneeland and Matthew Taylor.

Luke Waterson struck at 5:48 of the second period, scoring his fifth goal in the last three games. That put the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes up 2-1, which was the last lead the Jr. Canes would see.

The Cyclones then tied the game at 2-2, off the Nick Nardone breakaway effort at the 16:43 mark

The Cyclones’ GWG, also the championship-winning goal, was scored by Owen Kneeland at the 4:41 mark, marking the first time a team scored back-to-back goals in the otherwise dead-even game.

The USPHL Elite National Championship will be decided between the Northern Cyclones and the defending National Champion Carolina Jr. Hurricanes at noon on Monday, March 25.

The Cyclones were able to reach the final off the strength of a 3-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Juniors. Noah Malcolm, Shane Parent (GWG) and Matthew Taylor scored the goals for the Cyclones, and Richard Moskala scored for Tampa Bay.

In the other semifinal, the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes were able to skate past the Islanders Hockey Club by a 6-0 score. Jakson Furlotte and Zachary Rich each scored twice, and Luke Moses and Carter Radosta each registered one goal. Anthony Trantas registered 22 saves on 22 shots.

The teams will clash at the Mastrovito Hyundai Rink at the Utica University Nexus Center.

By Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com

It’s Year 3 for the WBS Knights, and it’s also Year 3 at Nationals for the WBS Knights.

The Elite team (and the Knights’ Premier team) has returned to Utica and will play in its third straight Nationals, one for every year of its existence since joining the league in 2022.

The Knights won the Atlantic Division this year, finishing 28-15-1-0, certainly impressive, but they’ve done even better in Years 1 (35 wins) and 2 (39 wins). Still, the Knights were strong enough to gain the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Division.

In the playoffs, they took on the No. 4 Jersey Hitmen, which was the other team along with the Knights in representing the Atlantic Division last year. The Hitmen of 2023 made the semifinals, falling to the Knights who went on to play the eventual champion Carolina Jr. Hurricanes.

This year, it would only be the WBS Knights of the two who would make it to Nationals, as the Knights defeated the Hitmen 8-1 and 10-4.

The Knights had three players in the Top 10 of Elite playoff scoring, with Blake Francione tying for second with nine points in two games. Veteran Jason DiMatteo was tied for fifth with seven points and Kaden Smith came across with five points in two games, good for a tie for fifth in the league. Andrew Zang stopped 59 of 64 in net in both wins against the Hitmen.

This past season, the Knights went up against fellow Atlantic representatives the Rockets Hockey Club seven times and came out with a 3-4-0-0 record. The other Nationals team they faced somewhat more than seldom were the Northern Cyclones, against whom the Knights finished 2-2-0-0.

Additional Nationals teams that the Knights took on during the regular season were the Metro Jets (3-2 win), Islanders Hockey Club (4-1 win) and the Tampa Bay Juniors (4-3 shootout loss).

By Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com

The USPHL Elite National Championships are just about to start on Thursday, and you have to include the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes in the conversation to win it all – again.

“I feel that Potomac, the Northern Cyclones and Atlanta are teams you need to keep an eye on,” said returning Head Coach Brad Gaylord. “And us of course!”

And why wouldn’t you expect the Jr. Canes to be in the final big mix? After all, they did win the regular season championship for the first time. They went on to win a two-game series with two very different games – an 8-1 victory and a 3-2 win against the Hampton Roads Whalers. That, of course, sent the defending National Champions back for another shot at glory, potentially becoming the first team to win back-to-back Elite titles in the current iteration of the conference going back to 2017-18.

“I felt they played very well in Game 1. In Game 2 we went away from our game a little,” said Gaylord. “ If we want to defend our championship, we can’t do that at all in Utica.

“It feels really good [to qualify again] and the players are itching to get the tournament started!” said Gaylord. “They all know everyone wants to beat the champs, so they have been practicing very hard. We have our plan of attack against our upcoming opponents for Games 1 and 2. With three practices left, we’ll be going hard and making sure all players understand the plan of attack.”

The Jr. Canes path at Nationals begins Thursday with the Chicago Crush, a first-year USPHL Midwest Elite Division team, and they also go up against the Islanders Hockey Club, who are making their fourth straight trip to the Nationals. Last year, they also met at Nationals, with Carolina winning 5-2, in a game partially overshadowed by a frightening injury suffered by Carter Radosta. Radosta returned this year to the Jr. Canes and is one of their top players, scoring 50 points.

During the postseason, Gian Khani led the way with five points in two games, while three other returning players were also on top of their game. Jakson Furlotte and Nathan Rhodes each had four points, and both Colby Markham (the league’s all-time leading scorer among defensemen) and Luke Moses had three points apiece.

Ryan Kalina had 18 saves on 19 shots for the win in Game 1, and Anthony Trantas stopped 33 of 35 in the Game 2 victory.

The Jr. Canes this year went 4-3-0-0 against Potomac in a fantastic series played throughout the season. In other games against Nationals teams, they’ve defeated Atlanta and Tampa Bay twice each, and they went up against the Rockets Hockey Club at the USPHL Tampa Showcase, also winning there.

By Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com

The Metro Jets’ first-year USPHL Elite program had quite the blueprint to work off of. They were borne of an organization that has been one of the most successful in the USPHL Premier. In fact, the Jets’ Premier team has the all-time best winning percentage in regular season play at .874.

The Jets organization has had three junior teams before, as they fielded the Jets, the Metro Jets Development Program (MJDP) and Metro Hockey Club (MHC) in 2020-21, but this is the first time the Jets have fielded an Elite team. They were very successful in winning the inaugural Midwest Elite title at 31-12-1-0.

In the playoffs, they faced a Decatur Blaze team that had several players with USPHL Premier experience, but were just able to edge the Blaze in two overtime games, 5-4 and 3-2, on March 10 and 11.

“Earning a sweep in our divisional play was impressive given the challenge they faced with a strong Decatur lineup. It was a test our players knew would be a challenge, but they kept to the game plan and were rewarded for it,” said Tina Ciraulo, the Jets Elite Associate Head Coach. “We are excited for our guys with all the work they put in this season. They bought into the process and developed over the season to prepare for an opportunity like this. It was truly a full team effort from top to bottom.”

The twins John and Peter Spiridonakos put up five and four points, respectively. McKenna Baker scored three points, including an OT goal. Hunter Folgmann had the other overtime winner.

In net, Elliot Duerr made 50 saves on 52 shots, and Zachary Robert stopped 29 of 33 in net. While the Elite players are new to the Nationals, the Jets staff have, in some cases, six years of experience at that level.

“We are fortunate that we have experience in playing for National titles,” said Ciraulo, who joined the Jets coaching staff in 2020-21. That year, with MHC, she became the first female head coach of a USPHL Premier team. “Therefore, we have been using our model to continue to work on things and with our other Jets teams attending, it gives us a chance to use different inter-squad practices to touch on details. [The 10-day break] also allows our guys to properly heal up those end of the year bumps and bruises to be 100 percent heading into Nationals.”

Against the Jets in the Seeding Round will be the Atlanta MadHatters and Potomac Patriots, certainly two tough customers. The Jets fell 2-0 to the MadHatters in the USPHL Tampa Showcase in January. The Jets went 5-2-0-0 against the other Midwest Elite representatives the Chicago Crush. They also took losses, however, to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights, the Islanders Hockey Club and Tampa Bay Juniors.

“We know all the teams will be strong. We stay loyal to our players and have not added any Premier players,” Ciraulo said. “So we are hoping our consistency and chip on our shoulder playing these teams will give us an edge.”

By Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com

Welcome to the Nationals, Potomac Patriots. A legacy member of the USPHL Elite (and USPHL Premier) in 2017-18, the Patriots have had a long and winding road to get to Utica not just this year, but over their seven years in the league.

For the first five years in the Elite, the Patriots were unable to crest the .500 mark, coming closest in 2021-22 with a 14-23-4-3 mark. Then, 2022 came along and the Patriots organization saw a massive turnaround as former pro player Josh Gratton (who saw 86 NHL games as part of an international career) launched a head-spinning culture change, after originally arriving in 2020.

Since then, the Patriots have regularly been a tough draw for every opponent and, to put the exclamation point on the point, both their Elite and Premier teams qualified together for the first time here in 2024. The Patriots have fully arrived.

“It feels great having made Nationals for the first time! We have come a long way since taking over here at Potomac and we are excited to see what this group can do,” said Alex Grose, the Elite Head Coach. Grose is one of very few current coaches to have also played in the USPHL, as he was part of the Patriots’ inaugural USPHL Elite team in 2013-14, which was actually his fourth season in the organization. After his college playing career at George Mason University ended, he became a coach there in 2018-19, and he joined the Patriots staff two years later.

“We are looking to just have fun this week going into it,” said Grose, when asked how the team was preparing with just about 10 days between games. “We know we’re one of the best teams so if we are healthy and in good spirits we will do well!”

In qualifying, the Patriots defeated longtime Nationals staples the Charlotte Rush, two games to zero. They took Game 1 convincingly with an 8-3 victory and squeaked by in a closer 2-1 win on March 10. It could’ve easily gone the other way, Grose said, given the team’s shortage of healthy regulars.

“Our team played fantastic in our last round of playoffs. It’s no secret that Charlotte is a very good team and program every year,” said Grose. “We were really proud of our guys handling adversity over the weekend with six regular players being sick in Game 2 of the series. Our team’s depth and leadership got us through a tough one!”

This includes one of the all-time leaders for the Patriots, such as Ilya Biesiedin, who has played in the organization since 2021. He led the series in scoring with five points after posting 99 points in 98 career Elite games. Additionally, newcomers to the program Dominik Budka and Noah Ribeiro each posted three points. Goaltending-wise, Christian Nalle made 50 saves on 53 shots in Game 1 and Taeyang Lim made 47 of 48 in Game 2.

The Dan K Show Elite Nationals Selection Show drew Potomac to face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights on Thursday and the Metro Jets on Friday in the Seeding Round. The Patriots have never played either team (the Jets being new this year, and the Knights starting back in 2021-22).

Among the Nationals teams they have faced are the fellow Southeast Division representatives and defending National Champion Carolina Jr. Hurricanes. The Jr. Canes gave the Patriots their last loss of the regular season back on Feb. 18, a 5-2 Jr. Canes win. Potomac finished 3-4-0-0 against Carolina this year, so it’s a great rivalry that’s grown there. They also defeated the Tampa Bay Juniors, 6-2, at the USPHL Florida College Showcase in December, and the Atlanta MadHatters 2-1 at October’s USPHL Southeast Showcase.

All these games have given Potomac a lot of confidence to not just be at Nationals, but to be a contender to win the whole thing.

“We think we will be the toughest team at the Nationals this year,” said Grose. “We have our sights set on Carolina, as they are the defending champion, they are well coached and work very hard! We are excited to get a chance against them!”