USHL

The United States Hockey League (USHL) announced Tuesday its Players of the Week for Week 28 of the 2021-22 season. For the second time this season the Lincoln Stars won two of the three weekly awards as Aidan Thompson and Kaidan Mbereko were named Forward and Goaltender of the Week, respectively. Cedar Rapids RoughRiders blueliner Brendan Fitzgerald earned his first Defenseman of the Week award. 

Thompson earned his second Forward of the Week honor and third of his career after picking up six points (3-3-6) as his Stars swept a home-and-home weekend series. The University of Denver commit opened the weekend with a two-goal, three-point game (2-1-3) against the Omaha Lancers. Thompson tallied Lincoln’s third and fifth goals of the game, with the latter coming with the man advantage, before assisting on another Lincoln goal in the third period of an 8-1 win. The following night, Thompson scored a third goal on the weekend to open the game’s scoring before adding assists in the first and second periods of a 7-3 win. With his six points, the Fort Collins, Colo. native is currently on a three-game point streak (3-4-7) and has registered at least a point in 12 of his last 13 games (9-21-30) and is a plus-17 in that span. Thompson’s back-to-back three-point games marked the 14th and 15th times this season that Thompson has registered multiple points in back-to-back appearances as the Lincoln leading scorer has 77 points (23-54-77) in 53 games this season. His 77 points is third in league scoring while his 54 assists ranks second. In his USHL career, Thompson is just under a point-per-game player with 111 career points (33-78-111) in 113 games with Lincoln. Thompson currently leads the USHL in shorthanded points (9) and assists (5) while his four goals is the second-best total in the league this season. 

Fitzgerald earned Defenseman of the Week honors for the first time in his career after tallying five points (2-3-5) as the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders earned a weekend sweep, keeping their Clark Cup Playoff hopes alive. On Friday night, Fitzgerald capped the game’s scoring with a powerplay tally midway through the third period of a 5-3 win over the Youngstown Phantoms. The following night, the University of New Hampshire commit assisted on each of the first two Cedar Rapids goals before picking up a tally of his own in the second period. Fitzgerald assisted on the game’s final goal midway through the third period of the RoughRiders’ 6-5 win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Saturday night’s four-point game (1-3-4) was a career-high for the North Reading, Mass. native and marked his fourth multiple-point game of the season. Fitzgerald’s goal-scoring in both games marked the first time this season he scored in back-to-back games. Fitzgerald has 28 points (5-23-28) in 53 games this season and comes from a hockey family that includes his father Tom, who is currently the New Jersey Devils General Manager, brothers Casey (Buffalo Sabres defenseman), Ryan (Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward) and Scott (Boston Bruins Director of Collegiate Scouting) as well as cousins Jimmy Hayes, Kevin Hayes, Keith Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk. 

Mbereko’s third Goaltender of the Week award came after backstopping Lincoln to Friday night’s 8-1 win over the Lancers. The Colorado College commit stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced Friday night and is now on a two-game winning streak between the pipes, marking the seventh time this season Mbereko has won back-to-back games. With one goal allowed, Friday night was Mbereko’s 18th time in 34 games this season he has allowed two-or-fewer goals. The West Bloomfield, Mich. native was ranked 19th among North American goaltenders on NHL Central Scouting’s Midseason Rankings after opening the season ranked as a C-rated player on the service’s Preliminary List. Mbereko represented Team USA at the 2022 World Junior Championships and holds an 18-11-1-2 record with a 0.900 save percentage and 2.93 goals against average in 34 appearances this season, which are fifth and tied for fifth, respectively, in the league.