Thirty New England natives made opening-night rosters in the United States Hockey League, it was revealed Tuesday. Of those 30 players, 20 hail from Massachusetts, five from Connecticut, four from New Hampshire, and one player is from Maine.
With several players opting to head back to junior or stay for another season, due to the uncertainty of the college season, making a USHL roster this season was perhaps as difficult as it ever has been.
The Chicago Steel and Sioux City Musketeers led the way in terms of New Englanders being represented. Five players from the region made the opening-night rosters of each organization. The Steel is perhaps most notable with two 2020 NHL draft picks, left wing Sean Farrell and right defenseman Ian Moore, along with a potential top-three-round pick in 2021 in Mackie Samoskevich.
In further evidence that New Hampshire’s recruiting is heading in the right direction, the Wildcats had six commits among the 30 players from the region. Mike Souza and his staff have a couple of additional recruits on opening-night rosters from outside of New England. With five and four commits, respectively, Harvard and Boston University are the next most represented college programs among New England’s contingent in the USHL.
Chicago Steel
Andon Cerbone, C, Stamford, Conn. (Michigan)
Liam Devlin, LW, Needham, Mass. (New Hampshire)
Sean Farrell, LW, Hopkinton, Mass. (Harvard/Montreal Canadiens)
Ian Moore, RD, Concord, Mass. (Harvard/Anaheim Ducks)
Mackie Samoskevich, RW, Newtown, Conn. (Michigan)
Des Moines Buccaneers
Liam Connors, RW, Southboro, Mass. (Boston University)
Owen Fowler, LW, Tewksbury, Mass. (UMass Lowell)
Derek Mullahy, G, Scituate, Mass. (Harvard)
Tyler Young, RW, Lancaster, Mass. (Providence)
Dubuque Fighting Saints
Robert Cronin, C, Plymouth, Mass. (New Hampshire)
Braden Doyle, LD, Lynnfield, Mass. (Boston University)
Henry Thrun, LD, Southboro, Mass. (Harvard)
Fargo Force
Jake Dunlap, LW, Windham, N.H. (UMass)
Green Bay Gamblers
Jed Baliotti, G, New Canaan, Conn. (New Hampshire)
Muskegon Lumberjacks
Alex Gagne, LD, Bedford, N.H. (New Hampshire)
Phillip Tresca, C, Newton, Mass. (Yale)
Jack Williams, RW, Biddeford, Maine (Northeastern)
Omaha Lancers
Kennedy O’Connor, LD, Springfield, Mass. (UMass)
Sioux City Musketeers
Mikey Adamson, LD, Quincy, Mass. (UMass)
Brian Carrabes, RW, North Andover, Mass. (Boston University)
John Fusco, RD, Westwood, Mass. (Harvard)
Doug Grimes, RW, Brookline, Mass. (Boston University)
Ben Steeves, RW, Bedford, N.H. (Minnesota-Duluth)
Sioux Falls Stampede
Garrett Sundquist, LD, Glastonbury, Conn. (Providence)
JP Turner, C, Falmouth, Mass. (New Hampshire)
Tri-City Storm
Victor Czerneckianair, C, Southington, Conn. (Quinnipiac)
Waterloo Black Hawks
David Sacco, C, Middleton, Mass. (New Hampshire)
Youngstown Phantoms
Michael Brown, LD, Belmont, Mass. (Merrimack)
Kyle Chauvette, G, Goffstown, N.H. (Holy Cross)
Riley Duran, RW, Woburn, Mass. (Providence)
