USPHL Elite Players Of The Month – November 2022: North Division

(Summaries By Joshua Boyd/USPHL.com)

Forwards

Nick Therrien, Islanders Hockey Club 

A goal and five assists on Nov. 13 against the Bridgewater Bandits was Game No. 1 of what has become an active six-game scoring streak for the ‘04 rookie from Plymouth, N.H. Jumping from the EHL Premier, Therrien has found fantastic success in racking up 23 points in 18 games – and this includes a 6-11-17 line in nine games last month. For the scoring streak, he has 4-10-14 in six contests, the third longest active streak. 

Quirino DoCanto, Bridgewater Bandits

The Bandits have almost completely turned their level of success around from this time last year. After 24 games here in 2022-23, they are 15-8-1-0, an improvement on going 6-18-0-0 last year at the same mark. A big reason for that success is the performance of this ‘02 from Wareham, Mass., who put up the division’s best points per game average at 2.13 (17 points in eight games). He scored points in six of eight games, but every time he put up points, he did in bunches. DoCanto had a four-point game on Nov. 2, a couple two-point performances and he ended November’s action with three straight three-point contests. DoCanto is fifth in league scoring with 31 points in 24 games. 

Josh Bruno, Northern Cyclones 

The ‘04 out of California remained with the Cyclones organization after experiencing success last year with Northern’s USPHL 18U squad. This year, Bruno has posted 26 points in 17 games this year with the Elite team, including the 11 points he put up in six games of November (5-6-11). His November points are joined with a 1-2-3 line on Oct. 30 to give him a seven-game point streak of 20 points, nearly a 3.00 points per game average. 

Defensemen

Justin Pniewski, Islanders Hockey Club 

An ‘04 from North Haven High School in Connecticut, Pniewski has made a huge impact on the Islanders out of the gate. He put up a 4-5-9 line offensively in the Islanders’ nine November games, over which they went 8-1 to improve to 13-3-1-1. Pniewski was also a +7 with six blocked shots and seven hits over the course of the month. 

Joshua Page, Northern Cyclones

One of the true veteran leaders for the No. 1 defensive team in the Elite – not to mention winning percentage leaders at .912 – Page (‘03/Wake Forest, N.C.) is a big reason why the Cyclones are on top. This past month, he played in five games and registered two goals and one assist in three straight games for a 2-1-3 line, and he keeps that active scoring streak moving forward. He has 10 points in 16 games this season and 24 points in 57 contests for his career. He is the Cyclones’ co-leader in plus-minus with Brady Bomal (both +8) and leads in blocked shots (18). 

Goaltender

Chase Ebeyer, Springfield Pics

For the Pics to begin to pick up steam and move up the standings, any improvement will likely have to do with the play of Ebeyer (‘04/Scottsdale, Ariz.). His play in November has placed him seventh overall in the league in save percentage at .926. His monthly save percentage was just about the same, at .927 off of 102 saves on 110 shots in three appearances. Ebeyer was the only goalie in the North Division to face more than 100 shots and come out with a better-than-.900 save percentage in November. He earned his first win of the season on Nov. 12 against the Junior Bruins. He also helped his team register points in shootout losses against the Islanders Hockey Club (stopping 46 of 49 shots over 65 minutes) and the New York Aviators (17 of 20 in team play, plus 2 of 4 in the shootout).