USHL

The United States Hockey League (USHL) announced Saturday its Players of the Week for the Conference Finals round of the 2021-22 Clark Cup Playoffs. Muskegon Lumberjacks forward Joey Larson and Sioux City Musketeers goaltender Alex Tracy earned their second Forward and Goaltender of the Week awards this season while Madison Capitols blueliner Ben Dexheimer earned his first Defenseman of the Week award. Tracy and the Musketeers will face Dexheimer and the Capitols in the Clark Cup Final beginning Sunday. 

Larson picked up a point in every game of the Eastern Conference Final, including a trio of mutli-point games, finishing the round with nine points (4-5-9) as the Lumberjacks season came to an end at the hands of the Capitols. The Northern Michigan University opened the series with his first goal of the Clark Cup Playoffs in a 5-2 Game One win. Larson chipped in a pair of assists in a Game Two loss before picking up his third three-point game and first two-goal game (2-1-3) of the Playoffs in Game Three. The Brighton, Mich. native scored Muskegon's first goal and assisted on the second before firing home the overtime winner in the 4-3 win. Larson closed the series with an assist in Game Four before pocketing his fourth goal of the Eastern Conference Final and picking up his fifth assist in a two-point night (1-1-2) during Game Five. Larson finished the Playoffs with 17 points (4-13-17) in nine games and currently leads all skaters in both points (17) and assists (13). Larson's 13 assists tied Trevor Lewis (Des Moines Buccaneers, 2005-06) for the third-most assists in a single Playoffs in USHL Tier I history. Larson's 17 points is tied for sixth all-time with Jack Badini (Chicago Steel, 2016-17) in a single Tier I Playoffs. In the regular season, Larson registered 66 points (32-34-66) in 62 games and finished eights among all league scorers with 32 goals. 

Dexheimer recorded a pair of multi-point games, at least a point in three of the five Eastern Conference Final matchups and finished the series with six points (2-4-6) in five games as he and the Capitols punched their ticket to the Clark Cup Final. The University of Wisconsin commit collected his first point of the series, an assist, on Madison's first goal of Game Two, an eventual 4-3 overtime win for the Capitols, before scoring late in the middle frame. In Game Three, Dexheimer contributed another assist and capped his scoring for the round with a three-point night (1-2-3) in a 3-1 Game Four win. The Edina, Minn. native factored in each of Madison's goals, including potting the eventual game-winning goal five minutes into the second period. Dexheimer has eight points (2-6-8) in 10 games through the Playoffs, good for second among blueliners in the Playoffs. During the 2021-22 regular season, Dexheimer finished with 47 points (8-39-47) in 60 games which was sixth in the USHL and second among Capitols defensemen. 

Tracy earned his second Goaltender of the Week award this season, and first of the Clark Cup Playoffs, after backstopping the Musketeers to a three-game Western Conference Final sweep of the Anderson Cup-winning Tri-City Storm. The Minnesota State University commit turned aside 87 of the 94 shots the Storm sent his way, including a Game Three shutout to close out the series. Tracy made a Playoffs-high 35 saves on 39 shots in a 5-4 Game One win and followed it up with  21-save performance the following night in a 4-3 Game Two win. The Chicago, Ill. native led a Musketeers shutout win in Game Three, turning aside all 31 shots Tri-City sent his way in a 2-0 win. Tracy's shutout was his second of the Playoffs and fifth of the 2021-22 season after registering a trio of regular season clean sheets. Tracy currently leads Playoff netminders with a 1.67 goals against average and 0.936 save percentage as well as holding a 5-1-0-0 record through six games. The netminder finished the regular season with a 27-10-3-0 record with a 2.50 GAA and 0.896 SV% in 44 appearances.