While the Upper Midwest High School Elite League has taken several measures to limit possible COVID-19 exposure this fall, including caps on attendance, the talent on the ice hasn't waned, with dozens of speedy and skilled players on display. 

Through just over two weeks of play, the league has come down to a two-horse race for the time being, with Twin City Orthopedics (8-1) and Velocity Hockey Center (7-3) sitting in first and second place, respectively.

Maple Grove senior standout and Michigan Tech commit Kyle Kukkonen leads top-ranked Twin City Orthopedics with 10 goals and 19 points, followed by Eden Prairie senior Drew Holt (5 goals, 9 assists, 15 points) and another Crimson skater in senior Chris Kernan (6-7-13). TCO goaltender Aksel Reid leads the league with a 3.20 goals-against-average and is also tops in wins with five. Reid, a senior, plays his high school hockey for Blake.

Sophomore forward and North Dakota commit Jaksen Panzer (7-9-16) of East Grand Forks paces Velocity in scoring, with supplemental production provided by a fellow member of the Green Wave Landon Parker (8-5-13) and Hermantown sophomore Zam Plante (7-6-13). Grand Rapids senior Hunter Bischoff (5-6-11) and Thunderhawk junior Joey DelGreco (3-8-11) round out Velocity's scoring attack. 

After the top two teams, there is a logjam of squads in the middle. TDS Transportation, Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine, and Sit Mutual Funds are all within a single point of each other in the standings, with MAP South Hockey, Team Wisconsin, and Sanford Health bringing up the rear among teams that have played more than two games. 

Despite a sub-.500 record at 2-5-3, MAP South features the league's leading scorer in St. Thomas Academy's Jackson Hallum, a recent Michigan commit who's racked up 11 goals and 21 points in 10 games. Hallum played for MAP South last season during Elite League play, totaling 12 goals and 26 points in 18 games. MSP Magazine forward Henry Bartle of Centennial sits atop the league leaderboard in assists with 11. 

Among goaltenders, TDS Transportation netminder Jack Wieneke, a senior from Maple Grove, leads the league with a save percentage of .909, and is second behind Aksel Reid in wins with four, tied with Velocity's Jacob Snyder. Snyder is a senior at Duluth Denfeld.