Ducks-Cougars win big on USPHL-Midwest opening night

After a tumultuous summer, the USPHL-Midwest finally got things underway Friday (Sept. 11) with 12 of 17 league teams seeing action.

The big winners on the night were the West Division’s Dells Ducks and Chicago Cougars, both grabbing 7-0 wins on the road to start the season.

The Ducks pulled off the big win at Dyer, IN against the Illiana Blackbirds while the Cougars made the trip to Farmington Hills, MI and downed the Michigan Wild.

In other West Division play, the St. Croix Valley Magicians (formerly Hudson Crusaders) also grabbed a road win, getting by the host Steele County Blades 6-5 in overtime and the Forest Lake Lakers was the lone home team to grab a win, edging the Blaine (formerly Maple Grove) Energy by a 4-3 margin.

Meanwhile, the East Division kicked off with an intersting match as the Tri City Icehawks downed the visiting Traverse City Hounds, defending Midwest Junior Hockey League champions 4-1 and the host Motor City Hawks handed the the Marquette Royales a 5-3 defeat.

Ducks 7 at  Blackbirds 0

The Ducks spoiled opening night for the Blackbirds with a potent attack, in particular on special teams as the visitors scored four times on seven powerplays and killed off all seven of their own disadvantages, including a brief stretch down two skaters.

Team Captain, Felix Conrads, a ’95 from Naperville, IL led the Ducks with two powerplay goals and an assist in the game while James Williams, a ’96 from Fort Worth, Texas and Wyatt Neilsen, a ’96 from Sioux Falls, ND both collected three assists in the game.

David Kaplan, a ’97 from Chicago also scored twice  while Trace Peterson, a ’97 from Denver and Sean Teske, a ’96 from Reedsburg, WI both picked up two assists.

Other Ducks’ goals came from: Dylan Van Syckel, a ’95 from Columbus, WI; Jaydn Munnelly, a ’96 from Omaha, NE and Josh Repaal, a ’97 from Tomah, WI. Stefon Demetz, a ’95 from Ortisei, Italy collected a shutout in his first game with the Ducks, stopping all of the 18 shots he faced.

The Ducks and Blackbirds were scheduled to wrap up a two-game set on Thursday night at the Midwest Training and Ice Center.

Cougars 7 at  Wild 0

The Cougars, formerly the Wisconsin Rampage, started the new era off right with a big win on the road, peppering both of the host Wild goaltenders with a total of 54 shots in the game.

The Wild managed to hold off the Cougars attack for the most part through the first 20 minutes, but with only 14 skaters on the roster, they wore down in the middle period allowing five including three in just over a minute early in the period that all but put this one away.

Leading the offensive charge for the Cougars was Matthew Letmanski, a ’98 from Wheaton, IL who collected two goals and an assist and Willy Doremus, a ’97 from Aspen, Colorado with a goal and two helpers.

Nik Kropp, a ’97 from Northbrook, IL, scored twice in the game with Gavin Nickerson, a 95 from Corvalis, Oregon and Henry Laukkanen, a ’98 from Holt, Michigan, both adding a goal and a helper.

Jessie Heisz, a ’97 from Janesville, WI collected the shutout for the Cougars, stopping all 10 of the shots he faced in the contest.

Magicians 6 at Blades 5 (ot) 

Jared Mikkelson, a ’97 from Inver Heights, MN sank the game winner 3:20 into the first 3-on-3 overtime of the season for the USPHL-Midwest, lifting his St. Croix Valley Magicians to a 6-5 win at the Four Seasons Center at Owatonna, MN.

The Blades scored the lone goal of the opening period and the Magicians notched the only goal in the third, leaving an eight-goal barrage for the middle period. Magicians were down 5-2 at one point in the middle frame.

Along with Mikkelson, the Magicians got two goals from Curtis Hansen, a ’98 from Prior Lake, MN and Cole Buhl, a ’97 from South St. Paul picked up a goal and assist. The other goals came from Lane Eliason, a ’95 from Superior, WI and Charlie Weiand, a ’97 from Rosemount, MN

The Blades were led by Clayton Huss, a ’96 from Pleasant Hill, IA who picked up a goal and two assists and Jaeger Zwygart, a ’95 from Kansas City with three helpers.

Chase Lewis, a ’96 from Winston-Salem, North Carolina scored twice with Eric Colstrup, a 97 from Ellendale, MN and Wilson Anderle, a ’95 from Hanover, MN both assisting on a pair.

Other goals came from Jesse Aubrecht, a ’97 from Farmington, MN and Drew Gustavson, a ’97 from Winona, MN.

Jason Footlick, a 97 from California picked up the win in goal stopping 34 of 39 for the Magicians while Josh Beatty, a ’95 from Westminster, Colorado handled 37 of 43 for the Blades.

Energy 3 at Lakers 4

Even after a period at 1-1, the Lakers outscored its guests 3-1 in the second period, then limited them to one more in the third to hold on for a 4-3 win in their opening contest.

Zachary Remers, a ’95 from Tampa Bay enjoyed a big night for the Lakers, in on all four points with two goals and two assists. The other two goals came from Brian Miller, a ’96 from Marlton, NJ and Anton Minaev, a ’96 from Moscow, Russia picked up three assists in the game.

For the Energy, Jacob Kantor, a ’97 from East Islip, NY picked up a goal and assist with other goals for Tanner Decker, a ’96 from Green Bay, WI and Erik Engdahl, a ’98 from Bloomington, MN.

In goal, Daniel Demaria, a ’96 from Feura Bush, NY handled 12 of 15 for the Lakers to pick up the win while Blair Sanders, a ’95 from Kansas City stopped 31 of 35 for the Energy.

Hounds 1 at Icehawks 4

Traverse City led this one early, but only beat Cody Foster, a ’95 from Saugus, California was beaten just the one time on 24  chances while the Icehawks battled back to tie it later in the first, then grab the win with two unanswered in the middle period and one more in the third.

Austin Caryl, led the way on offense for the Icehawks with two goals and an assist and C.J. Bradburn set up three,  both of them ’97’s from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Marks Mezsargs, a ’96 from Riga, Latvia had a goal and assist in the game, the other Icehawks goal scored by John Matson, a ’97 from Anchorage, Alaska.

Austin Christie, a ’97 from Cheboygan, Michigan had the lone Hounds goal and Justin Abdelhak, a ’95 from Lapeer, MI stopped 31 of 35 for the Traverse City crew.

Royales 3 at Hawks 5

Marquette Royales scored the lone goal of the first period and found themselves even at 2-2, but with just 11 skaters on the roster, the team might have run out of gas down the stretch allowing the home side to pull away with a 3-1 margin including the clincher with just two minutes remaining.

Trevor Pode, a ’96 from St. Clair Shore, MI picked up an opening night hat trick to lead the Hawks with other goals coming from Justin Session, a ’96 from Detroit and Julian Willibey, a ’95 from Dearborn, MI.

Ryan Budnick, a ’98 from Shelby Township, Michigan picked up the win in goal stopping 27 of 30 shots.

For Marquette, Mitch Kinnunen, a ’96 from Slinger, Wisconsin had a goal and assist with Austyn Renn, a ’97 from Racine, MN assisting on a pair.

Other goals came from Kris Maxon, a ’95 from Munising, MI and Jason Dahlquisit.

Kyle Mugica, the Royales goaltender and a ’95 from West Covina, CA was the busiest player on the ice, stopping 59 of 64 Hawks’ chances.