USPHL Premier 2023-24 South Region Players Of The Week 

Week of Jan. 26, 2024

Games of Jan. 18-24, 2024

Summaries by Joshua Boyd / USPHLPremier.com 

Southeast Division 

Forward: Carson Galin, Charlotte Rush

Galin (‘03/Novi, Mich.) is a third-year junior player in his second season with the Rush, and he’s already more than doubled his 2022-23 points output. Recently, he posted three goals and four assists for seven points to push the Rush past the Potomac Patriots in a marquee weekend match-up. He has thus moved up to 35 points in 29 games, after scoring 17 last year. He also posted a +3 to lead all Rush forwards and won a team-leading 17 faceoffs. 

Defense: William Olund, Potomac Patriots

Olund (‘03/Pitea, Sweden) did everything possible for his team, although in the end they would cede a pair of games to the Rush. Olund, the Patriots’ ice time leader for the current third place team in terms of Premier points, put up three assists in the two games, accounting for almost half his team’s goals. Against the Rush, he was on the ice for 23:05 per game on average and he was on the ice for five of the Pats’ seven goals on the weekend (as well as five against). An Alternate Captain for the Patriots in his first North American season, he has 30 points in 31 games this year. 

Goaltender: Pavel Matiunin, Carolina Jr. Hurricanes

The greatly promising ‘06 out of Krasnodar, Russia, had spent most of the 2023-24 season with the Jr. Canes’ Elite team, but recently came up at the start of the new year with the Premier squad and has now had success at both levels. He stopped 30 out of 33 shots put on him by the Columbia Infantry to get his second victory in as many Premier starts. He’d also gotten a 13-save shutout on Jan. 5 at the USPHL Tampa Showcase for his first Premier start. 

Florida Division

Forward: Ulric Martel, Atlanta MadHatters

Martel (‘05/Victoriaville, Que.) was huge for the playoff-bound MadHatters, a team that’s also pushing up the standings and challenging for the division title this year. Martel not only put up four goals and four assists for eight points in three games (including a 3-2-5 in the series opener). He also was a +7 to tie for second on the team in the three games, and his 30 shots on goal was also second for the MadHatters. For the season, the second-year Premier veteran has 21 points in 29 games. 

Defense: Brayden Goddard, Florida Eels 

Goddard (‘03/Vancouver, Wash.) was huge for the Eels as they came back from a 4-1 loss to defeat the Tampa Bay Juniors 7-4 victory. He put up four assists in that win and in the two games, he led the Eels with 24:10 of ice time. He also tied for the team lead with eight shots on goal, and his four blocked shots also led the team. In his second season with the Eels (and third Premier season overall), Goddard registered 30 points in 34 games, already bypassing the 22 points he put up last year. He also co-leads the Eels defensemen with a +13 for the season. 

Goaltender: Michael Calabret, Atlanta MadHatters 

Calabret (‘05/Hudson, Ohio) has made two appearances with the MadHatters this year, coming down from Maine where he plays for the Twin City Mavericks AAA program and he’s also played with the NCDC Twin City Thunder as recently as Jan. 6. On Jan. 19, Calabret stopped 49 out of the 50 shots put on him in the first of three games (all wins) against the Palm Beach Typhoon. He is 2-0 in his Premier games with 96 saves out of 99 shots. Prior to this season, Calabret had made multiple appearances at the USA Hockey Nationals with the Mount St. Charles Academy program.