The United States Hockey League (USHL) held its annual draft Monday and Tuesday of this week to select prospective players for the 15 league teams.
While the league’s footprint is in the Midwest, there are plenty of talented players from New England or those with connections to the region who were selected in the proceedings.
Phase I was Monday night where league teams could select only players born in 2003. Tuesday’s Phase II was for any player eligible to play junior hockey in 2019-20, which includes 1999 through 2003.
Paul Davey of Greenwich, Conn. was the only New England native chosen in the first round of Monday night’s Phase I. A sophomore at Brunswick School, Davey is a left wing committed to Boston College. He was taken with the eighth overall pick by the Des Moines Buccaneers.
Three other players with ties to the region went in the first round of Phase I as well. Selects Academy at South Kent 15U center Ryan Greene, a Boston University commit, was the third overall pick of the Green Bay Gamblers.
The Dubuque Fighting Saints took Kenny Connors, a UMass commit slated to play at the newly formed Mount Saint Charles Hockey Academy, with the fifth overall pick.
Avon Old Farms defenseman Drew Tsakounis was taken with the sixth overall pick by the Sioux City Musketeers.
Providence commit Tyler DesRochers went in the second round, 18th overall, to the Green Bay Gamblers. He played the past season with Mercer Chiefs 16U, but is making the move to Mount Saint Charles.
Another future Mount Saint Charles prospect, center Zachary Bolduc of Bécancour, Quebec was selected by the Sioux City Musketeers with the 21st overall pick.
Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 16U defenseman Austen May, committed to Providence, was the only other player with New England ties taken in the second round. The Youngstown Phantoms took May with the 25th overall pick.
Brunswick center Matt McGroarty was taken in the third round, 32nd overall, by the Madison Capitols. The Westport, Conn., native is committed to Quinnipiac.
Six picks later, Madison took Providence commit Daniel Sambuco, a center with the ISS Kings.
Also in the third round, the Youngstown Phantoms selected Jack Silich from Chicago Mission 15U with the 41st overall pick. He’s committed to Quinnipiac.
Selects Academy at South Kent 15U forward Copeland Fricker was the first with local ties to be taken in the fourth round. He was chosen by the Waterloo Black Hawks with the 50th overall pick.
One pick later, Thayer Academy left wing Nick Roukounakis of Pembroke, Mass. was selected by the Dubuque Fighting Saints. He’s committed to Boston University.
Quinnipiac commit Jonah Copre, a defenseman with Chicago Mission 15U, was selected by Waterloo later in the fourth round with the 59th overall selection.
Northeastern commit Michael Bevilacqua was the only player with local ties to be drafted in the fifth round. Des Moines used its 69th pick to take the defenseman from the Buffalo Jr. Sabres 16U.
Vermont commit Eli Barnett, a defenseman with Selects Academy at South Kent 15U, was taken in the sixth round, 77th overall, by the Madison Capitols.
Selects Academy teammate Jake Bongo was next off the board among those with local ties. He was taken with the 85th overall pick by the Tri-City Storm.
New Hampshire commit JP Turner, a right wing from Avon Old Farms and Falmouth, Mass., was chosen with the 87th overall pick by the Sioux Falls Stampede.
One pick later, Wolcott, Conn., native Oliver Flynn was selected by the Waterloo Black Hawks. He’ll be heading to Loomis Chaffee in the fall.
The only other player with a connection to the region taken in the sixth round was Maine commit Guillaume Richard, the 90th overall pick of the Tri-City Storm.
Brookline, Mass., native Aidan Lyons, a defenseman for Nobles, was taken in the seventh round, 95th overall, by the Des Moines Buccaneers.
Later in the seventh, St. Sebastian’s center Tim Delay of Hingham, Mass. was taken by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. The Boston College commit
was the 99th overall pick.
Tri-City took Selects Academy at South Kent 15U forward Paul Desaro with the last pick in the seventh round.
In the eighth round, the Chicago Steel took Islanders HC 16U defenseman Brendan Fitzgerald of North Reading, Mass. with the 116th overall pick.
Later in the eighth round, Dexter defenseman Patrick Morrissey, hailing from Canton, Mass., was the 119th overall selection of the Muskegon Lumberjacks.
In the ninth round, the Green Bay Gamblers took Mansfield High School center Matt Copponi with the 123rd overall pick.
Rivers goaltender Conor Sullivan of Westboro, Mass. was taken by the Sioux Falls Stampede with the 132nd overall pick.
BC High freshman defenseman Declan Loughnane was the only local selected in the 10th and final round of Phase I. The Milton, Mass., native went 140th overall to the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
Phase II
Hopkington, Mass., native Sean Farrell was selected with the first overall pick by the Chicago Steel in Phase II. Formerly of St. Mark’s School, Farrell is now a left wing for the USA Hockey NTDP U-18 team. As a late ’01, he hasn’t yet graduated from high school and will play the 2019-20 season in the USHL before matriculating to Harvard for the 2020-21 season.
The Lincoln Stars selected Brunswick defenseman Cooper Moore of Greenwich, Conn. with the fourth overall pick in Phase II. Moore, an offensive-minded defenseman, is committed to North Dakota.
New Hampshire commit Will Margel of the Selects Academy at South Kent 18U team went to the Madison Capitols with the seventh overall pick in Phase II.
Two picks later, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders chose Northeastern commit and Salisbury left wing Justin Hryckowian. Maine commit Nolan Renwick of the Notre Dame Hounds in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League was the last pick of the first round, taken by the Omaha Lancers.
Another Northeastern commit was the first player with local connections to go off the board in the second round. Matt Choupani of Lac St-Louis was picked by the Des Moines Buccaneers with the 23rd overall pick.
Kent School center Michael Posma was selected one pick later by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
Hookset, N.H., native Caleb Price, a defenseman with the Jamestown Rebels in the NAHL, was selected 26th overall by the Lincoln Stars.
UMass commit John Lundy, a North Jersey Avalanche 18U left wing, was taken with the 30th overall pick, the final one of the second round, by the Tri-City Storm.
Boston University freshman Mark Cheremeta, who played junior hockey with the Islanders Hockey Club in the USPHL NCDC, was taken in the third round, 35th overall, by the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
Quinnipiac commit Christophe Fillion, a center with the Wenatchee Wild, was taken by the Lincoln Stars with the 40th overall pick.
Later in the third round, the Des Moines Buccaneers used the 43rd overall pick to select Hotchkiss goaltender Henry Wilder, committed to Boston College.
Kimball Union right wing Brian Carrabes was the only local player selected in the fourth round, taken with 56th overall pick by the Sioux Falls Stampede.
In the fifth round, Lawrence Academy center David Sacco, a UNH commit from Middleton, Mass., went to the Waterloo Black Hawks with the 64th overall pick. Four spots later, Plymouth, Mass., native and UNH commit Robert Cronin was selected by the Dubuque Fighting Saints after his stellar season with Gunnery. With the 71st overall pick, Tri-City selected Nobles center Casey Severo, who is committed to Merrimack.
St. Mark’s defenseman Ian Moore was the first local off the board in the sixth round. The Princeton commit was selected with the 82nd overall pick by the Chicago Steel. Two spots later, UNH commit Aidan Curran of the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs was picked by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
Later in the sixth, Selects Academy at South Kent center Matt Crasa was picked up by the Sioux Falls Stampede with the 87th overall selection. At 92nd overall, Fargo Force took Merrimack commit Matt MacDonald, a forward with Boston Advantage 16U. One pick later, Waterloo selected Boston University commit Quinn Hutson, a forward for North Jersey Avalanche 16U.
Brown commit Nikita Nesterenko, a forward from Lawrenceville, was taken in the seventh round with the 104th overall pick by the Youngstown Phantoms.
Three spots later, St. Sebastian’s wing Liam Devlin, committed to New Hampshire, went to the Chicago Steel. Immediately following, Dartmouth commit Ryan Sorkin of the New Jersey Rockets went to the Muskegon Lumberjacks.
New Hampshire commit Cy Leclerc, a forward with Seacoast Academy 16U, was the first local off the board in the eighth round. Cedar Rapids scooped him up with the 117th overall pick. Three spots later, Bentley commit and former Cushing star Matt Guerra went to Sioux Falls.
Newburyport, Mass., native Hunter McCoy, a center with Islanders Hockey Club, went to the Omaha Lancers in the ninth round. One of the region’s top uncommitted players, he was the 127th overall selection.
UNH commit Jack Ring, a center with Boston Advantage, was the 137th overall selection of the Sioux City Musketeers. One spot later, former Lowell Catholic star Andrius Kulbis-Marino went to Tri-City. The Sacred Heart commit was a PG at Albany Academy this past season.
The start of the 10th round was busy for locals. Stratham, N.H., native Cole Crusberg-Roseen, a defenseman for New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs 16U, was selected by Tri-City with the 139th overall pick. The UMass commit was the first selection of the round.
Selects Academy at South Kent 15U defenseman and Quinnipiac commit Oscar Plandowski was taken two spots later by the Green Bay Gamblers.
That began a run on UMass commits with three taken in the next five picks. North York Rangers right wing Cole O’Hara, was chosen by Tri-City with the 142nd overall pick. With the 146th overall pick, the Fargo Force selected New Hampton center Jake Dunlap of Windham, N.H. One spot later, the Des Moines Buccaneers selected Kennedy O’Connor, a defenseman from Springfield, Mass., and Loomis Chaffee.
In the 11th round with the 157th overall selection, Tabor center Morgan Winters, a UNH commit, was taken by Green Bay.
Choate defenseman Cooper Swift was the only other local taken in the 11th round. The West Hartford, Conn., native was selected by the Fargo Force with the 161st overall pick.
BC High left wing Peter Kramer was taken in the 12th round, 174th overall, by the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
Two spots later, Merrimack commit Nolan Barrett of Skipjacks 18U was picked by the Fargo Force. Immediately after that, Des Moines took Cushing defenseman Patrick Keegan, a Billerica, Mass., native.
Boston College commit Peter Reynolds was taken by the Chicago Steel with the 180th overall pick. St. Sebastian’s defenseman Ryan MacDermott went to the Waterloo Black Hawks with the 182nd overall pick.
The only player with local ties taken in the 13th round was Westminster goaltender Ian Shane, selected 195th overall by the Chicago Steel.
In the 14th round, Nobles right wing Jack Cronin, a Princeton commit, was selected 204th overall by Dubuque. Bedford, N.H., native and Seacoast Academy 16U defenseman Alex Gagne was selected 208th overall by Cedar Rapids.
With the final two picks of the 14th round, Boston College commit Danny Weight went to Muskegon and Dartmouth commit Tyler Borsch went to Omaha.
The Dubuque Fighting Saints took Dexter defenseman John Fusco in the 15th round with the 219th overall pick.
Bentley commit Brandon Cimino of North Jersey Avalanche 18U was taken in the 16th round with the 235th overall pick by the Sioux City Musketeers. Later in the round, Proctor right wing and Vermont commit Ronan Walsh went to Waterloo.
Quinnipiac freshman forward Matthew Cassidy was taken in the 17th round, 254th overall, by the Youngstown Phantoms. A UMass commit, Christian Stevens of the OJHL’s Whitby Fury, was taken by Tri-City with the final pick of the 17th round, the 259th overall selection.
Gunnery defenseman James Rayhill was plucked off the board by Sioux Falls in the 18th round with the 271st overall pick. Two spots later, Cushing center Nick Cafarelli, a UNH commit from Middleton, Mass., went to Muskegon.
In the 19th round, Boston Bandits defenseman Linden Alger went 284th overall to the Youngstown Phantoms.
The only local taken in the 21st round was Shelton, Conn., native Ryan Wilson, a goaltender for Northwood School.
