This weekend marked opening action in the new United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) Northwest Division, with action between the Seattle Totems and Bellingham Blazers. All five teams within this new division are expansion franchises into the USPHL, but that doesn’t mean they’re without history. Even though there were some technical issues in being able to watch the opening game, the Totems took home their first USPHL win over Bellingham by a score of 6-2. As each of the rosters throughout the Northwest Division in the USPHL are still taking shape, this article isn’t necessarily meant to be a prediction, but rather more of an early season assessment based off the current information available on Elite Prospects. Make sure to select any team below to get tickets and support your local team!
BELLINGHAM BLAZERS: The current history of this organization dates back to 2012, though hockey in Bellingham dates back a half a century – so this city is no stranger to the greatest game in the world. In their inaugural season of USPHL action, the Blazers named Mark MacDonald the Head Coach. Coach MacDonald not only played for the Blazers during their first three seasons in the NPHL, he was the team’s Captain during the 2016-2017 WSHL season – and after four years at Western Washington University where he scored 98 points in just over 70 games, he’s ready for the new challenge of leading the Blazers in this new hockey frontier. The Blazers return some familiar faces for the 2022-2023 season, including forwards Ethan Franzen and Benjamin Totten, as well as blueliner Michael Apitz. The roster also boasts a series of fresh faces including forwards Roman Wolynec and Tyler Chapman, and netminder Andrew Brabender, so it will be exciting to see the team form into a finely tuned hockey machine as the season moves along.
SEATTLE TOTEMS: Just south of Bellingham is a quiet and little-known Northwest metropolitan sanctuary, Seattle, which lo and behold, possesses a Stanley Cup title. Sure, the city would like another one – what city wouldn’t. But a harder trophy to acquire this day and age is the USPHL Premier National Championship Trophy. The NHL has only 32 teams – the USPHL Premier alone hosts 73 teams, and that’s the trophy Team President, General Manager AND Head Coach Michael Murphy wants to bring back to Seattle this year. Seattle is no stranger to hockey, and this organization is older than some of the players on the team, and with all that history, don’t be surprised if this team finishes at or near the top this year. Coach Murphy went out and acquired Swedish netminder Felix Flodman, local blueliners Levi Knight and Reed Gilmore — who both possess junior hockey experience — as well as forwards Nahom Teshome, Derek Eaton and Bryce Neil. The Totems are not only here to compete, they’re here to win.
ROGUE VALLEY ROYALS: Hockey is back in Medford, Oregon, and we couldn’t be any more excited. Medford has a deep hockey history, however, the pandemic took its toll on the hockey city and had left its hockey fans starving for junior hockey to return. Enter the Rogue Valley Royals. The Royals are the new face of Medford hockey and they’re led by owner and Head Coach, Bobby Ruddle, who’s been hard at work leading-up to the organization’s first USPHL action. To build a strong Northwest Division contender, the Royals have secured Canadian blueliners, Nathen M’Lot and Henry Mayer, American netminder Kaeden Edstrom as well as local forward Tyler Hanson, who comes with junior experience out of the NA3HL. The Royals might be knocking the rust off the hockey rink’s backboards, but their Northwest foes shouldn’t underestimate that this team could be a royal pain on the ice.
ROCK SPRINGS PROSPECTORS: For all intents and purposes, the Rock Springs Prospectors are the actual expansion team amongst the five “expansion” teams in the new Northwest Division – this is in fact, their first season of hockey action. Even though their roster presence on Elite Prospects is a bit slim at the moment, you can identify a team that is looking to build towards something great for the city of Rock Springs, Wyoming. GM & Head Coach Danny Randall is no stranger to the USPHL, having coached for the now defunct Provo Riverblades last season, and he’s looking to use that experience to develop a new vision and strong hockey culture within the Prospectors organization. To accomplish this, Coach Randall went out and acquired Canadian forwards Kyle Avery, Matt Pantone and well…a solid group of other Canadian forwards…so far, all Canadian. On the backend, he’s signed Americans John Urgo and JC Laird as well as a handful of netminders, including Chinese Taipei/Canadian Brody Hsiao and Slovakians Maximilian Vassay and Maximilian Lednicky. So even though this roster is still a work in progress (from our end), you can see Coach Randall and the Prospectors are building something unique and exciting for the city of Rock Springs.
VERNAL OILERS: The Oilers had a rather rocky and unstable first year of existence last year, but despite all the challenges, were still able to develop a culture and bring some exciting hockey action to the city of Vernal, Utah. This season, as they enter the USPHL, they’ll be able to focus on continuing to build a successful and exciting hockey team. At the helm of the Vernal Oilers is GM and Head Coach Joe Pfleegor – a staple in the Utah hockey community – possessing two decades of hockey coaching experience within and around the State of Utah. Coach Pfleegor was able to secure returning forwards Chase Parry, Marco Casinelli, Josh Kochan and Korven Van Leuven, as well as blueliners Jayce Yadon and Camden Winters, and netminder Jayden Pasillas. Mix that in with new faces such as forward Brandon Creighton, blueliner Levitt Ayoungman, and netminders Antonio Tarantino and Austin Gilbert — both with strong USPHL experience — and don’t be surprised when you see the Oilers at or near the top of the Northwest Division this season.
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Author: CD, Host, Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast
