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Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (Chicago), Uula Ruikka (Chicago) and Jakub Dobes (Omaha) Earn Weekly Honors

November 26, 2019 - United States Hockey League (USHL) News Release


CHICAGO, ILL. - The United States Hockey League (USHL) announced Tuesday the Forward, Defenseman and Goaltender of the Week for Week 9 of the 2019-20 season. This is the second such honor in the last three weeks for Chicago Steel defenseman Uula Ruikka and first weekly honors for Steel forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine and Omaha Lancers goaltender Jakub Dobes. Fontaine and Ruikka each registered a +6 rating while raking in five points while the Steel potted 18 goals in a pair of wins last weekend while Dobes picked up his first career USHL victories as he turned aside 39 of the 40 shots he saw. The USHL is America's only Tier I junior hockey league and continues to lead the world in the advancement of Division I college hockey athletes.

Forward: Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (Chicago Steel)

2 GP, 2G, 3A, +6

Fontaine's five-point weekend (2-3-5) earned him his first career USHL Forward of the Week award and marked the second week in a row a Steel forward won the award (Brendan Brisson - Week 8). Fontaine scored a goal and added a pair of assists in Friday night's 11-5 win before notching another goal and assist the next night as the Steel completed the weekend sweep of the Madison Capitols with a 7-4 win. The Northeastern University commit currently has 19 points (10-9-19) through 18 games and is on pace to shatter last season's impressive rookie numbers for points (43), goals (20) and assists (23). Fontaine's 19 points has him currently tied for 8th in the USHL among all skaters as the East Greenwich, R.I. native and his Steel teammates account for five of the top nine spots in league scoring leaders. Fontaine is also one of just eight players across the league with 10-or-more goals so far this season. Last weekend was the second time this season that Fontaine registered back-to-back games with multiple points and gave him six such games this season after registering multiple points eight times his rookie campaign.

Defenseman: Uula Ruikka (Chicago Steel)

2 GP, 5A, +6

Ruikka earned his second career USHL Defenseman of the Week honor just two weeks after his first by chipping in five assists and a +6 rating for the Steel in their dominant weekend sweep of the Madison Capitols. Friday night was a two assist performance before Ruikka added a trio of helpers the next night, factoring in five of his team's 18 goals in the games. The back-to-back multi-point performances are the first such stretch of Ruikka's USHL career and gives him six in his career (four this season). The games are also part of a current three-game point streak (0-6-6) as well as having picked up points in five of his last six games (2-8-10). Ruikka's offensive output has been key in the Steel's current seven-game winning streak and 9-1-0-0 record in their last 10. The Providence College commit has 17 points (3-14-17) in 18 games this season, which puts him one goal away from last season's total (4) and sets new single-season career highs in assists and points - beating last season's eight and 12, respectively. His 17 points is tied for 17th overall in the USHL but is second among defensemen behind only his teammate Owen Power (18). Likewise, Ruikka's 14 assists is behind only teammate Sean Farrell (20) across the league but leads all blueliners.

Goalie: Jakub Dobes (Omaha Lancers)

2 GP, 2-0-0-0, 0.57 GAA, .975 SV%

Dobes earned his first USHL Goalie of the Week after picking up career wins No. 1 and 2 in the USHL last weekend. The Ohio State University commit was huge for the Lancers in both of the victories in a weekend sweep of the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Dobes turned aside 11 shots in a 12-shot onslaught in the first period of Friday's game as the Lancers escaped the first 20 minutes with a 1-1 tie and would go on to open the weekend with a 4-1 win. Dobes returned the next night in a relief appearance after a quick start from the Lumberjacks gave them a 2-0 lead in the first period. In the final 45 minutes of the game, Dobes led an Omaha comeback by stopping all 16 shots he faced while the Lancers offense scored five unanswered goals for a 5-2 Saturday night win. NHL Central Scouting ranked Dobes a C goaltender in their latest rankings. After joining the team in late October, the Czech Republic native has a 2-2-1-0 record with a 1.89 goals against average and 0.925 save percentage through five appearances. Those numbers would rank third and second, respectively, among all USHL goaltenders if Dobes had enough minutes played to qualify for the statistic leaderboards. At this point in the season, goalies must have played 300 minutes to qualify. Dobes has played 285 this season. Regardless, the netminder was key in net for his team this weekend as the Lancers (7-7-3-0, 17 pts.) are currently tied for sixth in the Western Conference and have points in three-straight games (2-0-1-0).

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