USHL

The United States Hockey League (USHL) announced Tuesday its Players of the Week for Week 16 of the 2021-22 season. Tri-City Storm goaltender Arsenii Sergeev was awarded his third Goaltender of the Week award while first time winners Jeremy Wilmer (Tri-City) and Blake Dangos (Madison Capitols) earned Forward and Defenseman of the Week, respectively. 

Wilmer added a quartet of assists to his season total of 41 points, which is tied for fourth in the league, in a pair of Tri-City Storm wins this past weekend. The Boston University commit picked up an assist in Friday night’s 3-0 win over the Fargo Force before chipping in a trio of helpers the following night in a 4-1 road win over the Omaha Lancers. Wilmer picked up a primary assist on a powerplay goal midway through the second frame that held up as the eventual game-winning goal. The Rockville, Centre, N.Y. native then picked up additional assists on insurance goals in the second and third periods. Wilmer’s 41 points (11-30-41) this season is tied for fourth in league scoring and paces the Storm through 30 games played this season. The former USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) forward collected 30 points (8-22-30) in a combined 49 USHL games with the NTDP over the past two seasons and has seen his offensive production explode since joining the Storm. Wilmer has only been held off the scoresheet in consecutive games once this season and has registered at least one point in 17 of his last 20 games (6-25-31) dating back to November 7, 2021. Wilmer is the first Tri-City skater to earn a Player of the Week award this season but the second Storm player to be awarded as Sergeev, including this week’s award, is now a three-time Goaltender of the Week winner. 

Dangos earned his first career Defenseman of the Week award last week after picking up a trio of assists, helping the Capitols to a weekend sweep. The Arizona State University commit picked up an assist on a go-ahead goal late in the second period of Friday night’s 5-2 win over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. The next night, Dangos picked up an assist on a game-tying goal late in the second period before registering a helper on the eventual game-winning goal in the third frame of a 5-4 win over the RoughRiders. This season, the St. Louis native has 16 points (2-14-16) in 31 games. Dangos joins teammate Luke Mittelstadt (Week 5) as a Capitols blueliner to win Defenseman of the Week this season. 

For the third time this season, Sergeev came home with the USHL Goaltender of the Week award this season after picking up a Friday night shutout, his fifth of the season and sweeping the weekend, becoming the first 20-win goalie in the league this season. The Calgary Flames prospect (2021, Round 7, #205 Overall) is currently on a six-game winning streak that continued last weekend after whitewashing the Force on Friday night, 3-0, before following it up with another win, 4-1 over the Lancers. Sergeev, a native of Yaroslavl, Russia, leads the league this season with five shutouts, 20 wins, 1.52 goals against average and 0.934 save percentage. With his third Goaltender of the Week award this season, the University of Connecticut commit became the first three-time winner of the season.