USHL

The United States Hockey League (USHL) announced Tuesday its Players of the Week for Week 15 of the 2021-22 season. For the second time this season, Ethan Elias of the Omaha Lancers was named USHL Defenseman of the Week while Jack Williams of the Muskegon Lumberjacks and Owen Bartoszkiewicz of the Youngstown Phantoms earned their first Forward and Goaltender of the Week award, respectively. 

This was the first Weekly Award for Muskegon Lumberjacks captain Jack Williams, who earned seven points over the past weekend. The Northeastern University commit started the weekend with his second career four-point game (1-3-4) in a 10-6 win over the Madison Capitols. Williams assisted on the first two Lumberjacks goals of the game before scoring a goal of his own on the powerplay in the final minute of the opening frame to open a 3-1 Muskegon lead. The Biddenford, Maine native picked up his final point of the game with a powerplay assist just 21 seconds into the second period. The following night, Williams and the Lumberjacks picked up another road victory, this time a 7-1 win spurred on by a three-assist (0-3-3) night from Williams. The fourth-year forward assisted on the second goal of the game for Muskegon, the eventual game-winning tally before picking up another assist less than two minutes later on a shorthanded tally. The final point for Williams on the weekend came in the third period with another powerplay assist. This season, Williams has 29 points (5-24-29) through 29 games, which is tied for 19th in league scoring and tied for third in team scoring. His 24 assists is tied for ninth in the league while standing alone as second in Muskegon helpers. Williams has already set a new career high with his 24 assists this season and is nine points away from his best scoring season, 38 points in 52 games last season. 

For the second time time this season, Elias was named Defenseman of the Week (Week 1) after producing five assists in two games last weekend. The win for Elias gave Omaha a league-leading seventh Player of the Week award this season and joins teammate Matt Basgall and Youngstown Phantoms defenseman Trey Taylor as two-time Defenseman of the Week winners this season. Elias set a career-high with three points (0-3-3) in a Friday night 4-2 home win over the Fargo Force. The University of St. Thomas commit found himself picking up helpers on each of the final three goals of the game for the Lancers. One night later, in a 5-3 road victory over the Des Moines Buccaneers, Elias picked up a pair of assists, including the primary helper on a third period, go-ahead goal. Friday and Saturday night’s multi-point games were just the second and third of his career as the Maple Grove, Minn. native now has 12 points (3-9-12) in 34 career games. 

Bartoszkiewicz picked up his first career USHL shutout while allowing just one goal on 61 shots faced last weekend to earn his first Goaltender of the Week award. This was the third such award for the Phantoms this season as he joined two-time winner Kyle Chauvette as the week’s best netminder. The award gave Youngstown six through 2021-22, which is tied for the second most among Member Clubs this season. Bartoszkiewicz opened the weekend with a 25-save performance in a 3-1 Friday night win over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. The next night, in a 3-0 win, the Northville, Mich. native earned his first career USHL shutout after turning aside all 35 shots he faced. His 35 saves on Saturday night was the second-most of his career. This season, Bartoszkiewicz’s first in the USHL, has seen the netminder pick up a 3-6-1-1 record in 12 appearances with a 3.32 goals against average and 0.889 save percentage. With the pair of wins, Bartoszkiewicz and the Phantoms jumped from seventh to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings with a 12-11-2-3 record this season (29 points).