USHL

The United States Hockey League (USHL) announced Tuesday its Players of the Week for Week 18 of the 2021-22 season. Youngstown Phantoms blueliner Trey Taylor became the first skater to win three weekly awards this season as he was named USHL Defenseman of the Week while first-time winners Owen McLaughlin (Sioux City Musketeers) and Matej Marinov (Fargo Force) earned USHL Forward and Goaltender of the Week, respectively. 

McLaughlin earned his first USHL Forward of the Week award after registering seven points in a weekend sweep, propelling the Musketeers to second in the Western Conference and fourth in the USHL standings. McLaughlin and the Musketeers opened the weekend with a 7-4 win in front of the home crowd, thanks largely in part to McLaughlin’s four-point (3-1-4) performance. The Philadelphia Flyers prospect (2021, Round 7, #206 Overall) got off to a fast start, registering the game’s opening tally less than two minutes into the action before picking up a powerplay assist to open up a 2-0 lead midway through the first. McLaughlin added a go-ahead goal in the final seconds of the middle frame and later recorded the game-winning goal midway through the third period. The next night, McLaughlin and Sioux City bested the Waterloo Black Hawks 4-3 as the University of North Dakota commit chipped in a trio of assists, beginning with a primary helper on the game’s second goal before adding another pair of apples in the first four minutes of the final frame, including a primary assist on the eventual game-winning goal. Through 34 games this season, McLaughlin has recorded 46 points (19-27-46), which is good for the Sioux City team lead and tied for sixth in league scoring. McLaughlin’s 19 goals is tied for seventh in the league while his 27 assists ties him for eighth among USHL scorers. The Spring City, Penn. native is in his first full USHL season after combining for seven games with the Musketeers and USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) over the past two seasons. McLaughlin is the second Musketeers forward to win Forward of the Week this season, joining Kirklan Irey (Week 11) and is the third Sioux City weekly winner, joining Irey and goaltender Alex Tracy (Week 8). 

With his third Defenseman of the Week honor this season, Taylor became the first USHL skater this season to win three times, joining only Tri-City Storm netminder Arsenii Sergeev as three-time winners this season. Taylor, who previously won USHL Defenseman of the Week in Week 2 and Week 10 this season, registered a hat trick and an assist over the weekend as the Phantoms split a pair of games with the NTDP. Taylor, a Clarkson University commit, had an assist in Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the NTDP before tallying a hat trick in a 6-3 Sunday matinee win. The Richmond, British Columbia native tallied Sunday’s opening Youngstown goal, on the powerplay, before picking up his second in the middle frame and final goal in the final minutes of regulation. The hat trick was the first multi-goal game of Taylor’s career third three-point game of the season (1-2-3, October 2, 2021 and 0-3-3, November 26, 2021). Taylor is tied for eighth in league scoring among defensemen with 24 points (7-17-24) in 31 games this season. With Taylor’s third win of the season, the Phantoms have now had seven winners this season with goaltenders Kyle Chauvette (Week 6 & Week 13) and Owen Bartoszkiewicz (Week 15), as well as defenseman Carter Rose (Week 9), which is tied for first among USHL Clubs this season. 

Marinov earned his first USHL Goaltender of the Week award in just his second appearance of his career after allowing just one goal in a 4-1 win over the Des Moines Buccaneers on Friday night. The Slovakian netminder turned aside all but one of the 28 shots the Buccaneers sent his way, helping the Force to a win to open the weekend action. With the win, Marinov joined Louden Hogg (Week 14) as Force netminders to win USHL Goaltender of the Week this season and is the third Force player (Hogg & Bret Link, Forward of the Week - Week 14) to win a weekly award this season.