Fighting Five: Saints Visit Caps to Open Road Schedule
Published on September 26, 2025 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Dubuque Fighting Saints News Release
Middleton, WI - The Dubuque Fighting Saints (2-0-0-0, 4 pts) visit the Madison Capitols (1-1-0-0, 2 pts) on Friday night in their first true road game of the season.
Here are five things to know ahead of the matchup:
1. Super Scorers
The Fighting Saints opened the season with a pair of wins, scoring 15 goals in two games at the Fall Classic and tying a team record with 10 against Sioux City. The Saints' offensive outburst came from the entire lineup.
Over the two wins, 18 of 23 players to dress in a game scored at least a single point. Of the skaters, 17 of 21 logged a point, and 10 players enter Week 2 with multiple points through two games.
2. Saints Spotlight
Melvin Ekman scored three goals and recorded five points in the opening week, earning USHL Forward of the Week honors. The Colorado College commit recorded his first-career three-point game in the opening night win over Sioux City.
Ekman followed with his first-career two-goal performance in the 5-2 win against Waterloo, including a shorthanded tally. In Ekman's rookie season, he scored three goals and 13 points in 44 games played. Through two games this season, he has tied his goal total and logged nearly half of his points.
3. Captains Convert
Teddy Merrill recorded his first career multi-goal game in his first contest as Captain and scored two power-play goals at the Fall Classic. Merrill started the season with two goals in the win over Sioux City before blasting a second power-play goal of the week in the win over Waterloo.
The Saints four leadership players all recorded points in the first week. Colin Frank scored three goals, while Charlie Arend assisted three times and Michael Barron assisted once.
4. Big Blockers
The Saints goaltenders, Vojtech Hambálek and Owen Crudale, combined to stop 42 of 46 shots faced in the first two games as each goaltender recorded a win.
Five of seven active Saints defensemen recorded a point in the opening week, including a multi-assist effort from Hudson Lohse in his USHL debut against Sioux City. Brandt Dubey is tied with forward Dante Josefsson-Westling to lead the team, and the USHL, with a plus-6 rating.
5. Capitol City
The Fighting Saints visit the Capitols for the first time since clinching the 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals series in Game 4 last spring. Madison returns none of its top-eight point scorers from a season ago, but its top goaltender Caleb Heil is back in the lineup for the Capitols.
While Heil was at training camp with the Tampa Bay Lighting, Cash Cruitt and Brady Krey split the net for the Caps at the Fall Classic. Cruitt made 16 saves in the Caps 302 win over Lincoln, while Krey stopped 17 in a 4-3 loss to Fargo.
Friday's game begins at 7:05 pm CDT at Bob Suter's LEGACY20 Arena Middleton. The game is also available on Eagle 102.3 and FloHockey.
United States Hockey League Stories from September 26, 2025
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- Fighting Five: Saints Visit Caps to Open Road Schedule - Dubuque Fighting Saints
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