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USHL Notes: March 27, 2024

Published on March 27, 2024 under United States Hockey League (USHL) News Release


Heading into the Week: League-leading Fargo, which owns a 45-9-2-0 record, owns a 6-4-0-0 mark in its last 10 games.

The Force, who have 92 points for the season and own a 12-point lead over Dubuque (37-12-3-3, 80 points) in the race for the Anderson Cup as USHL regular-season champs, have allowed the fewest goals in the league (126) and have scored more goals (250) than any other team. Fargo owns the league's top penalty kill with an 85.7 mark (16 power play goals allowed in a league-low 112 opponent chances) and rank second in terms of power play percentage (32.5). Fargo leads the league with a 37.27 shots on goal per game average and its 23.13 shots allowed per game is a league low.

Force forward Mac Swanson (33-40--73) is second in scoring in the USHL. Fargo's Leo Gruba (20-33--53) is the top-scoring defenseman in the USHL and rookie netminder Hampton Slukynsky (25-3-0-0, 1.95, .918, 5 shutouts) leads the league in goals against average, save percentage, shutouts and is tied for first in wins.

Sioux City (31-20-6-0) is second in the Western Conference and Musketeer forward Kaden Shahan is tied for first in the USHL with 37 goals.

Dubuque, which ranks first in the Eastern Conference with 80 points and has won its last five games and owns a 7-3-0-0 mark in its last 10 games. The Fighting Saints, who lead the league in power play percentage (33.0) and rank second in penalty kill percentage (84.6) are led offensively by Jake Sondreal (27-42--69), who stands third in scoring in the league and Noah Powell (35-29--64), who's tied for sixth in scoring and is third in goals.

Green Bay (32-16-5-2) is second in the Eastern Conference with 71 points and Muskegon (34-20-1-1), which has won its last three contests, is third with 70 points.

Who's In, Who's Close: Six teams have punched tickets to the 2024 Clark Cup Playoffs with Fargo, Dubuque, Sioux City, Green Bay, Muskegon and Waterloo passing muster. Here's how things sit heading into this week's action.

Youngstown sits at a magic number of 2 to clinch a playoff spot.

Tri-City sits at a magic number of 5 to clinch a playoff spot.

Madison sits at a magic number of 6 to clinch a playoff spot.

Sioux Falls sits at a magic number of 8 to clinch a playoff spot.

Fargo sits at a magic number of 2 to win a SHARE of the Anderson Cup.

Players of the Week: Julian Lutz (Green Bay/USHL Forward of the Week) registered three goals and four assists for seven points in helping Green Bay to a 2-1-0-0 record last week. The Weingarten, Germany native had a goal and an assist in a 7-2 win vs. USA Hockey NTDP last Friday before a two assist-game vs. Dubuque Saturday. The Arizona Coyotes draft pick had a hand in all three goals with two goals and an assist in a 3-2 victory over Cedar Rapids Sunday. Now a two-time USHL Forward of the Week this year, Lutz leads Green Bay with 61 points on 23 goals and 38 assists in 43 games played on the season.

Lucas St. Louis (Dubuque/USHL Defenseman of the Week) scored four times in helping Dubuque to three wins last week. The Harvard commit led all USHL defensemen in goals and power play goals last week. St. Louis scored twice and had the game-winning goal in a 6-2 win over Green Bay last Saturday. He also scored a pair of power play goals in a 5-1 road win at Chicago Sunday and is now a two-time USHL Defenseman of the Week this year.

Jack Spicer (Waterloo/USHL Goaltender of the Week) went 2-0-0-0 with two goals allowed, had 67 saves, a 1.01 goals against average, and a 0.959 save percentage last week. The Rockville, Md., native stopped 21 of 22 shots in a 3-1 road win at Cedar Rapids last Friday and had 26 saves on 27 shots in a 7-1 home win over Tri-City Saturday. Spicer, who has won five of last eight appearances, is now a two-time USHL Goaltender of the Week this year.

Carry On: Fargo has charted 45 wins in its 56 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 six games remaining on its 2023-24 regular-season schedule.

USHL and NCAA: Including three league Player of the Year recipients, several former players from the United States Hockey League were honored as NCAA Division I men's hockey leagues across the nation announced their individual award winners for the 2023-24 campaign.

Picking up Player of the Year recognition this season included former Chicago forward Macklin Celebrini, who plays for Boston University (Hockey East), former Chicago forward Jackson Blake, who plays for North Dakota (NCHC) and former Tri-City forward Gavin Brindley, who played for Michigan (Big 10).

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

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