USPHL Premier Players Of The Month – February 2023: New England Division

North Division 

Summaries by Joshua Boyd / USPHL.com

Forwards: Chris Cordeiro, Bridgewater Bandits

The Saint Anselm College commit put together seven goals and six assists for 13 points in just 10 February games. Cordeiro (‘02/Barnstable, Mass.) put together a second 30-point season, posting a final of 37 in 34 games. Together with last season’s 39 points, his career 76 placed him No. 1 in the Bandits’ Premier scoring leaderboard going back to the establishment of the current USPHL Premier Conference in 2017-18. He finished his season with a four-point performance against the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs. Bridgewater travels this weekend to face the Springfield Pics in the first round of the New England Division playoffs. 

Daniel Woodford, Islanders Hockey Club

Woodford (‘04/Amherst, N.H.) is a great example of #USPHLAdvancement, as he moved up from the Islanders’ full-season 18U squad of 2021-22 to the Premier team, and put together a fantastic rookie junior season of 39 points in 40 games. This was helped along by a February that saw him post a 4-9-13 line in his 11 February games. During the month, the Islanders’ posted the Premier’s best points total of 22 by going 10-0-2-0, part of an overall 12-0-2-0 points streak stretching back into January. IHC hosts the Boston Advantage in Round 1 of the New England Division playoffs beginning Friday. 

Billy Dougherty, Northern Cyclones

Another great #USPHLAdvancement success story, Dougherty moved up through the Cyclones organization from USPHL 16U to 18U and now to being a leader for their Premier squad. The ‘03 from Levittown, Pa., has posted 55 points in his first junior season’s 41 games, as the Cyclones get geared up for facing the South Shore Kings in Round 1 of the postseason. He led all New England Division players with 16 points (8-8-16) in 11 February games, and also had the best points per game at 1.45. He had a 10-point run in five games through the middle of the month as well. 

Defense

Yahor Ramanau, Boston Advantage

Ramanau (‘03/Minsk, Belarus) put up a 5-4-9 line over his 10 February games as the Advantage went 5-5-0-0 over the course of the month. That was a division-best points total for a defenseman last month. Ramanau was also a +4 with three blocked shots and two hits. Ramanau, who came in with prior Tier II experience with the NCDC Advantage, put up a 37-point season in 39 games, ranking him as the top-scoring blueliner in the New England Division to close the 2022-23 campaign. 

Donat Horvath, South Shore Kings 

South Shore had their best month of the season in February, going 5-3-1-0, a good launching-pad into the USPHL Premier playoffs, especially against the No. 1 seed Northern Cyclones. Horvath (‘04/Budapest, Hungary) was a big reason for their success this last month, putting together a line of 2-5-7, blocking nine shots, registering seven hits and finishing the month with a +4. Horvath closed the regular season with a line of seven points in 12 games, and also appeared in 18 NCDC games this season. Horvat has played in 68 international games for his home country even at his young age.  

Goaltender

Jeffrey Fillion, Northern Cyclones 

Fillion (‘04/Chicoutimi, Que.) was really one of two lights-out goalies for the Cyclones during the last month, but saw the most pucks thrown at him out of four goalies with better than .930 save percentages in the division. He played 328 minutes and faced 176 shots, turning away all but 11 as he posted a 4-2-0-0 record. He posted a .938 save percentage, and picked up shutouts against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights (37 saves) and the Boston Junior Bruins (39 saves). This season, Fillion finished in the top 10 in both goals against average (1.96) and save percentage (.932).