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USEL: Detroit series roundup as teams head to Chicago

By Peter Odney , 05/11/23, 6:15AM CDT

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SDP leads the 2009 Division, while Little Caesars reigns supreme among 2010 teams.

2009 Division


SDP 2009's Boone Chartier leads the the top team in the league in scoring with eight points in five games.

Heading into Chicago, SDP and the Chicagoland’s own Windy City sit atop the 2009 standings, with SDP going 4-1 last weekend and Windy City winning three of five games with a tie and a loss. 

SDP won its first two games of the series 5-0 over East Coast South and 6-2 over Little Caesars before falling to Windy City 4-1 on Saturday morning. SDP shook off the loss and topped East Coast North 6-2 and Chicago Mission 5-1 to close out the weekend.

Through five games, Boone Chartier leads SDP in scoring with five goals and seven points, followed by Bennett Knutson (4 goals, 2 assists, 6 points) and Cooper Avelar (six assists). Both Brandon Wright and Hudson Ferries posted save percentages over .930 for the weekend. 

Windy City blew into Detroit and won its first three games against Chicago Mission, East Coast South, and SDP, then lost a heartbreaker 6-4 to Little Caesars before tying East Coast North in the Sunday finale. Sullivan Stark (6-3-9) and Enzo Digate (5-3-8) pace the team in scoring. 

Little Caesars (2-2-1), East Coast North (2-2-1), and East Coast South (2-3) find themselves in a logjam for spots 3-5 after the opening weekend, with Little Caesars and EC North tied with five points and EC South lurking just behind with four. 

Jack Peterson (3-3-6) and Vincent Arnone (3-3-6) are the offensive leaders in the clubhouse for Little Caesars, while goaltender Greyson Mielock posted sparkling numbers in nearly 111 minutes of play. Mielock stopped 64 of 67 shots during his time between the pipes, resulting in a goals-against-average of 1.22 and a .955 save percentage. Those marks both rank first among USEL goaltenders that have faced at least 67 shots on goal. 

Among skaters between the two East Coast clubs, Lincoln Cumming leads EC North with four goals and eight points, while Cameron Minella (7-4-11) and T. James Jackson (5-4-9) lead EC South heading into the second weekend. Minella currently leads the 2009 Division in both goals and points. 

Chicago Mission (0-4-1) is still looking for its first win of the USEL season, and could find comfort in the familiar Darien (IL) Sportsplex. If there were a silver lining, it would be that Mission nearly found itself in the middle of the pack, tying Little Caesars and being edged by EC South 5-4.

With a couple of bounces the other way, Mission could have been 2-3 through five contests. Reid Hmura leads Mission in scoring with a pair of goals and a trio of assists. 


Chicago Mission looks for its first win as the USEL heads to the Windy City this weekend.

2010 Division


RJ Thompson has seven goals and 10 points so far for a stacked Little Caesars 2010 squad.

If opening weekend in Detroit was any indication of things to come, the 2010 Division is in for a wild ride over the next two weekends. 

Little Caesars (4-0) allowed just seven goals over the weekend en route to a perfect 4-0 record, punctuated by a thrilling 6-4 come-from-behind win over East Coast North last Saturday night.

Undermanned EC North kept out to an improbable 4-1 lead over one of the nation’s top 2010 teams, carrying momentum both on the bench and on the scoreboard heading into the final minutes of the second period. Thankfully for host Little Caesars, Ryker Kesler pulled LC within two goals with 3:04 left in the second period, then RJ Thompson cut the EC North lead to 4-3 with 27 ticks left in the period. 

Kesler scored twice more in the third in addition to a Colin Kennedy goal to earn the 6-4 victory. 

Prior to the win over EC North, Little Caesars topped EC South 6-1, SDP 5-2, and Windy City 14-0. Colin Kennedy leads the leaders with five goals and 15 points, followed by Ryker Kesler (6-4-10) and RJ Thompson (7-3-10). 

SDP went 3-1 last weekend, sandwiching the loss to Little Caesars with a wild 10-5 win over East Coast North on Friday morning and wins over Windy City (10-1) and EC South (7-3) to cap its stint in the Motor City. So far, SDP’s Joey Cullen is one of two non-Little Caesars players in double-digits, with nine goals and 12 points. 

EC North and EC South are just two points apart after weekend one, with EC North going 2-2 and EC South 1-3. EC North features dynamo Cameron Daigle, the other non-Little Caesars skater with 10 or more points, leading all 2010 skaters with 10 goals and a pair of assists. 

EC South features seven players with three points apiece after four games, indicating a balanced squad that could find itself in the hunt come USEL playoff time. 

Windy City (0-4) will look to build on opening weekend. Like the Chicago Mission 2009’s, perhaps a more familiar setting in Darien can spark the Storm into the win column.

Mission hasn’t played at the 2010 level yet and will debut this weekend, adding another layer of intrigue to the league’s foray into The Second City.  


Cam Daigle (right) leads all 2010 skaters with 10 goals though one weekend of USEL play.

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