The rosters of the Mountain Division in the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) are starting to take shape, and it’s exciting to see a lot of returning as well as some new faces forming each roster. This article is based off the current information available on Elite Prospects, and isn’t necessarily meant to be a prediction but more of an early season assessment. Make sure to select any team below to get tickets and support your local team!
IDAHO FALLS SPUD KINGS: The newest addition to the Mountain Division is the expansion Idaho Falls Spud Kings, led by former Hoosac School Head Coach, Josh Hoff. Entering this gritty division will prove challenging, especially as the Spud Kings won’t have their first home game for the first several months of the season, as Hero Arena won’t be ready for the start of the season. However, when their arena is ready, expect it to be loud, as half of the 4,100 seat arena has been sold out to season ticket holders — just season ticket holders. It appears the net situation in Idaho Falls is set with goalies Ben Di Fiore, Jude Ayling and Carsten Shrimpton. The blueline looks mostly firmed up with five defenders listed, and the offense has seven players listed, so there’s some work that needs to be done (at least on Elite Prospects). As the roster havn’t taken form just yet for us outsiders, it’s hard to say how the team will pair up with their division rivals, but Josh Hoff was hired for this reason — not only to compete in the 22-23 Premier Division — but to prepare the organization to launch into the NCDC in the 23-24 season. It’ll be exciting to watch these spuds mash together this year.
UTAH OUTLIERS: Just like in previous seasons, the Utah Outliers are slowest to update their rosters on Elite Prospects so it was pretty impossible to write this article until today…12 September. But the Outliers are the back-to-back Mountain Division Champions largely because of who is at helm, GM and Head Coach, Paul Taylor. The Outliers have dominated play the past two seasons with internationally diverse rosters, and the 22-23 season looks like it may be no different as the Outliers eye a three-peat. With returning Italian netminder Marco Felicetti, and former USHL goaltender Lawrence Letey in net for the Outliers, it’s going to be a tough team to score on this season — especially of Felicetti stays healthy. Add the fact that Will Cohen, Miles McCue, Nikolas Schwab and Matthew Koepke are returning, amongst other familiar faces, it looks like the divisional championship is once again likely to go through West Valley City if any other team wants a chance to dethrone the division champs and head to Nationals.
NORTHERN COLORADO EAGLES: With the Colorado Avalanche having just hoisted the Stanley Cup, the buzz in Colorado hockey is real, so between that and the excellent play of the Eagles during the past two seasons, expect to see an increase in attendance at Northern Colorado Eagles games. One of the major reasons behind the success of the Eagles in recent years is Mountain Division staple, Steven Hadden, Head Coach & GM who has accumulated over 300 wins in the last decade with the organization. Though Elite Prospects only currently shows three defenders, the success of Hadden ensures that he is always able to secure returning players as well as a successful nest of new players. And this is important when the foundation of the team is with players such as goaltender Charles Anthony-Barbeau, blueliners Evan Wammes, Xavier Fortin and Javen Heidergott and forwards such as Quinn O’Reilly and Alexandre Bédard amongst others. Expect the Eagles to make some noise, they are birds of prey after all.
PROVO PREDATORS: New ownership. New management. New look. This is what the city of Provo needed as the previous organization struggled to make any significant impact for hockey in Provo. Under new ownership, the Predators landed a big fish for their role as Head Coach and GM, and hired Nick Dreyer. Coach Dreyer had previously been the Assistant Coach for divisional rival, the Ogden Mustangs under Head Coach Kenny Orlando, and the pair led the organization to a widely successful two seasons together. The Predators were able to lock down returning OHL draftee, Yuri Ushakov, as well as lock in some new faces including goaltender Bryson Stern, blueliner Duncan Chisolm and forwards Khyle Flynn, Anthony Lautz and Michael Gakhutishvili amongst a lot of other new faces. The Predators are going to turn some heads and are likely to take the city of Provo by storm, and introduce incredibly successful and entertaining hockey! The Preds are a team that will shake up the division, and any team overlooking the Predators will likely get mauled.
OGDEN MUSTANGS: The Ogden Mustangs have been the team you just don’t want to play in the Mountain Division the past two seasons, nearly dominating regular season play, but coming up 2nd to both the Northern Colorado Eagles and Utah Outliers in respective seasons. Will this be the season they finally break-out and take their first USPHL Mountain Divisional title? We shall see. But under the leadership and guidance of quietly dangerous Head Coach and GM, Kenny Orlando, their division rivals should be concerned yet again. Coach Orlando has once again secured critical returning players such as Jake Meure, Dmitri Voyatzis, Andrew Alonzo and Luke Faas. Combine that with Trey Hirschfield, a goaltender who spent much of last season in the NAHL before choosing to finish the season with the Mustangs, and you have a team that’s ready to gallop to Nationals. I expect some road bumps early on, as the players mesh together, but expect them to quickly turn into the herd of one and start trampling through the division.
PUEBLO BULLS: “Don’t take the bull by the horns, take him by the tail; then you can let go when you want to” (Josh Billings). This may be the only way you stop the Pueblo Bulls this year. Head Coach Chris Wilhite with assistance from VP & Ast Coach David Nelson, and GM & Ast Coach Tyler Tuneberg, have built a strong contender over the off-season in the wake of losing 2001s, Artem Lantuhk, Brendan Dicker, Felix Turcotte and “Mr. Bull” himself, Benjamin St-Onge. The Bulls always put a fun product on and off the ice and have become the place-to-be in the city of Pueblo — the culture is contagious. The Bulls saw goaltender Alexander Timmons move up the the NAHL’s Kenai River Brown Bears this season, but with 2003’s such as Canadian Gabriel Poyer, and Swedish netminders Lukas Björk and Jack Sundhall, I don’t think they’re a bit concerned about the blue paint. The Bulls were also able to return Thomas Soucy, Isaac Hood, Owen Ames as well as add new faces such as Albin Augustsson and Rivers Ball, so expect that Mountain Division rivals may feel like they’re stuck on the streets of Pamplona.
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Author: CD, Host, Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast
