PITTSBURGH — The first two days of the USHL 2021-22 regular season wrapped up at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township Thursday and Friday featuring ten of the league's 16 teams. Two more days of action will have the other six teams from the Tier 1 junior hockey league including the U.S. National Team Development Program’s Under-18 squad, competing Saturday and Sunday.
The Tri-City Storm and Des Moines Buccaneers went 2-0 of the pool of ten teams playing the first half of the event, and the games were competitive overall. Not surprisingly, those two clubs feature multiple players who stood out and impressed. There were also some pleasant surprises in the early going, including several noticeable performances from local products Joe Fleming (Wellesley, Mass.) and Mason Kucenski (Gill, Mass.).
The annual event, which brings hundreds of NHL scouts and D-1 college coaches to one location to see all of the teams over four days, was not held a year ago due to the ongoing COVID pandemic.
Forwards
Scout Truman
LW, Des Moines Buccaneers, 10/15/02, left shot, 5-10/175
UMass Lowell recruit from Alberta led all players in scoring with 5 points in 2 games (1-4). He plays with pace and is a skilled playmaker who can see it and carve up defensive seams with pinpoint passes. He’s on the smaller side, but with his quickness and attacking mindset, his talent will translate well to the Hockey East.
Gavin Brindley
C, Tri-City Storm, 10/5/04, right shot, 5-9/157
New England Hockey Journal’s top uncommitted ’04 in the country and it showed here, even the goals were harder to come by for a powerful Storm team with talent and depth at every position. Although small, and still a year away from his NHL draft year, the ultra-skilled Brindley is a handful for defenders, as he can drive wide with speed or cut inside. Despite his smaller stature, he is fearless and loves to go to the net. He has the look of a player who can keep scoring at the higher levels.
Alex Bump
LW, Omaha Lancers, 11/20/03, left shot, 6-1/185
Big-bodied winger can skate and has intriguing skills and a hard-to-the-net style, which will catch the attention of NHL clubs. The Prior Lake, Minn. native is uncommitted, but not much longer by the looks of it, as he had numerous programs close to home talking to him. He had an excellent preseason and followed it up with a productive, physical point-per-game start with the games now on the record. Going forward, he will need to pick up the pace to match the relentless speed of the USHL and sustain the early flashes.
Cam Lund (Bridgewater, Mass.)
C, Green Bay Gamblers, 6/7/04, right shot, 6-2/185
He started the new season with a bang, posting three helpers in a win over the Waterloo Black Hawks. With the puck, the former Cushing Academy and Boston Jr. Bruins (NCDC) forward powers through the neutral zone with speed, and uses his superior vision and soft hands to rifle or feather passes in the offensive zone. Without the puck, he can focus on the details and habits, but there is NHL upside here for the Northeastern recruit.
Tyler Haskins
RW, Madison Capitols, 7/7/03, left shot, 6-1/180
Committed to the University of Michigan, the Minnesota native who played midget hockey at the Chicago Mission program looks to have taken that next step in his second USHL campaign. He’s fast, disruptive and hard-nosed. He completes a pretty effective trio up front with center Kyle Kukkonen and left wing Quinn Finley, giving head coach Tom Upton a potent combination on his top line.
Defensemen
Damien Carfagna
Green Bay Gamblers, 12/12/02, left shot, 5-11/175
New Jersey native and bound for UNH, no player seems to have taken that big next step better than the second-year two-way rearguard. With three goals and an assist his four points tied Omaha’s Ethan Elias for most by a defenseman in the first two days of play. He can wheel, distribute, shoot the puck and is playing a more complete positional game.
Hunter McDonald
Omaha Lancers, 5/11/02, left shot, 6-3/194
A dark horse draft candidate in July who went unselected, you wouldn’t blame NHL scouts for watching him here and showing some regret for not taking a late flyer. The Western New York product is arguably the best defensive defenseman in the USHL with his height, reach, mobility and positional savvy, but he scored a nice goal by going right to the net and burying a centering feed. He’s committed to RPI, and looks like a player who will go in and play an important role right away.
Aiden Dubinsky
Tri-City Storm, 4/28/04, right shot, 6-0/183
The first year draft eligible native of Chicago played a lot here and brought his usual exceptional defensive acumen. The Minnesota-Duluth recruit doesn’t have to skate a lot because he reads and anticipates so well, that he’s rarely scrambling or having to recover. He gets on pucks and moves them out of his end quickly. As the son of a former pro, he has the details and habits in his game that will appeal to teams come draft time.
Luke Mittelstadt
Madison Capitols, 1/22/03, left shot, 5-11/180
Younger brother of NHL forward Casey Mittelstadt is playing his first and likely only full season in juniors after leading Eden Prairie High to the 2021 Minnesota state championship, with limited USHL action in Lincoln. The Minnesota Golden Gophers prospect has superb mobility and breaks pucks out with ease, while being able to wheel back and prevent opposing forwards from attacking the middle of the ice. He may not possess ideal pro size, but he’ll be one teams watch this season.
Goaltenders
Philip Svedeback
Dubuque Fighting Saints, 5/28/02, catches left, 6-4/205
Faced a tough challenge with Tri-City, but held the fort and gave his club a chance when the Storm surged, and outshot Dubuque by a near 2-1 margin, finishing with 32 saves on 35 shots. The game went to OT and resulted in a loss, but the Boston Bruins fourth-rounder in 2021 looked the part with his size and smooth lateral movements/quickness. He reacts and adjusts well to shots, and like most goalies gives up some hot rebounds into high danger areas.
Chase Clark
Tri-City Storm, 4/8/02, catches right, 6-6/201
Huge Washington Capitals prospect (6th round- 2021) and Quinnipiac recruit was under siege as Madison made an early push and fired a lot of shots on net, but stayed square and recovered extremely well. He moves so well and is instinctive, able to anticipate and get himself to the right spot to make the save. Along with fellow 2021 NHL draftee Arsenii Sergeev, the Storm are well covered in net.
Cameron Whitehead
Lincoln Stars, 6/13/03, catches left, 6-3/170
Tall, lanky netminder from Ontario played in the USPHL NCDC last season for Utica and had an impressive first start, losing a tough overtime 1-0 game to Cedar Rapids. Passed over in 2021, he has the build and athleticism to be a second-time NHL draft pick if he keeps playing like he did, tracking pucks and multiple grade A saves.
Surprises
Andrew Strathmann
D, Tri-City Storm, 2/27/05, left shot, 5-11/175
Wow! It’s not often you see one of the youngest players in the USHL come in and play with the kind of complete game that the Illinois native did. He could have played for the U.S. National Team Development Program, but committed to signing a USHL tender with the Storm and looks like a legitimate NHL pick already for 2023. The University of North Dakota recruit has the skating, skills, intelligence, physical pop and poise to be a very good future pro.
Joe Fleming (Wellesley, Mass.)
D, Cedar Rapids Roughriders, 10/19/03, right shot, 6-2/215
Big and rugged defenseman caught our attention during summer prep league play in Foxboro while securing a D-1 commitment to Northeastern. He got off to a hot start at the Fall Classic against Omaha, scoring the Roughriders’ first goal of the season on a hard point shot that found its way through traffic, while matching the physicality and pace in his first USHL game. In the third period, he was ejected for a charge that cost him the second game. He also had his first junior hockey fight against Cam Mitchell after his high hit on fellow Bay State native Kennedy O’Connor (Springfield, Mass.). Only 5-foot-9 and 178 pounds, Mitchell is a seasoned, scrappy junior player from Western Canada who immediately stood up for his teammate.
The goal, 32 minutes in penalties and the Mitchell uppercut that took him down proved to be one of the more memorable USHL debuts over the weekend. If Fleming can reign in his aggression a bit and pick his spots better, he’ll be an intriguing player to follow this season in his first year of NHL draft eligibility.
Mason Kucenski (Gill, Mass.)
G, Omaha Lancers, 4/8/02, catches left, 6-3/175
The Vermont Academy graduate is 3-0 in the USHL (going back to two preseason games) after never having played a minute in juniors prior to Omaha. He takes up a lot of the net and at times looks a little stiff and nervous in his movements, but there is some potential here. What is worth noting and extending real credit for is the fact that even though he’s given up early goals in each of his starts, he’s also been able to settle in and lock things down, allowing for his team to battle back. There’s a lot to be said for the mental toughness to hang in there like that.
Cole O’Hara
C, Tri-City Storm, 6/20/02, right shot, 6-0/181
Canadian import from Toronto will play at UMass next season. We knew he was a smart, talented forward after watching him in the league a year ago, but he was on another level in the two games as Tri-City’s offensive catalyst (1 goal, 4 points). He has a natural knack for the net, but he also shows the desire to go to the dirty areas of the ice and will take a big hit to make the play. He’s bigger, stronger, more experienced and all of that usually translates to big production.
Bruno Bruveris
G, Cedar Rapids Roughriders; 3/9/02, catches left, 6-1/165
Latvia native posted a shutout in his first career USHL start, making 31 saves and winning the goalie duel with Cameron Whitehead. Connor Lovett’s (Franklin, Mass.) OT strike secured the win, but Bruveris is going to see a lot of shots and action around his net by the looks of it. He was active, engaged and stole the game for his squad.
