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USHL Notes: February 28, 2024

February 29, 2024 - United States Hockey League (USHL) News Release


Wagoneering: League-leading Fargo extended its winning streak to 10 games with three wins last week. This is the second 10-game winning streak Fargo has had this year (the Force opened the season with a 10-game winning streak).

The first team in the league to clinch a berth in the 2024 Clark Cup Playoffs, Fargo enters this week's action boasting a 39-5-2-0 record.

The Force have racked up 80 points for the season and own a 14-point edge over the team with the second-best record - Eastern Conference leading Dubuque has 66 points on its record of 30-10-3-3.

The Force have allowed the fewest goals in the league (93) and have scored more goals (210) than any other team. Fargo continues to lead the league on the penalty kill with an 85.1 mark (14 power play goals allowed in a league-low 94 opponent chances) and rank second in terms of power play percentage (32.2). Fargo leads the league with a 37.98 shots on goal per game average and its 21.83 shots allowed per game is a league low.

Force forwards Zam Plante (20-34--54) and Mac Swanson (19-35--55) are both tied for third in scoring in the USHL.

Fargo's Leo Gruba (16-28--44) is the top-scoring defenseman in the USHL.

And Force netminder Hampton Slukynsky (21-1-0-0, 1.88, .915, 4 shutouts) leads the league in goals against average, save percentage, wins and shutouts.

Sioux City (27-15-6-0) is second in the Western Conference and has gone 5-5-0-0 in its last 10 outings.

Waterloo, which has gone 7-3-0-0 in its last 10 games, stands third in the Western Conference with a 28-16-0-1 mark.

Dubuque, which ranks first in the Eastern Conference with 64 points and has gone 7-1-2-0 in its last 10 games, rank second in the USHL with 205 goals scored. Jake Sondreal (23-36--59) is tied for the league lead in points and along with teammate Juraj Pekarcik (7-36--43), is tied for the USHL assists lead.

Green Bay (27-11-4-2) ranks second in the East with 60 points and Muskegon (28-16-1-1) is third with 58.

Players of the Week: Julian Lutz (Green Bay/USHL Forward of the Week) scored twice and had five assists for seven points and 11 shots on goal in helping Green Bay to a 2-1-0-0 record last week. Lutz, who assisted on a power play goal in a 5-1 win over Muskegon last Friday, had a goal and two assists in a 7-4 loss to Muskegon Saturday, He finished the week with a goal and two assists (including one on the game-winner) in a 5-4 win over Muskegon Sunday. He heads into this week's action riding a league-best 16-game point-scoring streak (9-19- 28.

Charlie Michaud (Madison/USHL Defenseman of the Week) had three points on three assists in helping lead Madison to a 2-1-0-0 record in three games played. The Miami commit assisted on a goal by Andrew Kuzma in last Saturday's 3-2 win over Dubuque before assisting on first-period goals by Aiden Long and Jack Brandt and posted a +2 rating in a 3-2 overtime win at Cedar Rapids Sunday. For the season he has 3-8- 11 and is +3 in 38 games played.

Hampton Slukynsky (Fargo/USHL Goaltender of the Week) is now a two-time USHL Goaltender of the Week after turning in 2-0-0-0 record in 120:00 minutes, 2 GA, 39 saves, 1.00 goals against average and a 0.951 save percentage s last week. The Northern MIchigan commit had 24 saves in a 4-0 road win at Omaha last Friday for his fourth shutout of the season and then stopped 15 of 17 shots in 6-2 road win at Sioux City Sunday. The Warroad, Minn., native stands 21-1-0-0 on the season and leads the USHL in wins (21), goals against average (1.80), save percentage (.918) and shutouts (4).

On Pace: Fargo has amassed 39 wins in its 46 games played this year. The USHL single-season record for wins was set in 1998-99 when Des Moines won the Anderson Cup with 48 victories in 56 games. Green Bay had 47 wins in 60 games in 2011-12 and Tri-City had 47 wins in 62 games in 2021-22. Fargo has 16 games remaining on its 2023-24 regular-season schedule.

Julian Calendar: Currently in the midst of the USHL's longest point scoring streak this year, Green Bay's Julian Lutz has racked up 9-19--28) in the last 16 games. USA Hockey NTDP's James Hagens has an 11-game point-scoring streak going during which he's totalled 5-14--19.

On the Mat: Muskegon F Matvei Gridin has posted 25-34--59 on the season to move into a tie with Dubuque's Jake Sondreal (23-36--59) atop the league scoring charts. Gridin's 25 goals are tied for fourth in the USHL. He has registered at least one point in 14 of the last 15 games.

That's a Plus: Four players from Fargo rank in the top five in the USHL in plus minus - Brasen Boser (+38), Mac Swanson (+33), Leo Gruba (+33) and Zam Plante (+30). The outlier is Muskegon defenseman Ryan Koering, who's fourth at +32.

Streaming: Just a reminder that all league games are streamed live via FloHockey.

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