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

Summaries by Joshua Boyd / USPHL.com 

New England Division

Forwards

Billy Dougherty, Northern Cyclones 

The New England Division’s leading scorer in January, Dougherty (‘03/Levittown, Pa.) put up 10 goals and added seven assists for 17 points last month. Aside from a handful of games up from the USPHL 18U Jr. Cyclones last year, Dougherty is largely a first-year Premier player. No matter, as he has posted 39 points in 30 game so far this year. Dougherty started with the USPHL in 2018-19 as a member of the former Hartford Jr. Wolfpack 16U team and joined the Cyclones the next season, making his Hudson, N.H., debut with their 16U squad. 

Brady Carpenter, Islanders Hockey Club 

The recent Worcester State University (NCAA) commit was also the Islanders’ top scorer in the month of January, putting up 12 points in eight games. Carpenter started the month with a hat trick – his first in three Premier seasons – and an assist against the Buffalo Stampede at the Northern Cyclones Showcase. He moved on to put up eight more points to help him lead the IHC in scoring with 37 points in 32 games this year. He is also fourth all-time on the IHC Premier scoring leaderboard with 68 points in 97 games. He is poised to play his 100th career game, becoming just the third Islander to do so in the Premier (since 2017-18).

Devin Oliver, Boston Junior Bruins  

Oliver, a second-year Premier player in his first season with the Junior Bruins, helped his team put together a 6-3-0-0 record during the month of January. The ‘02 out of Washington, D.C., put up seven goals and eight assists for 15 points in nine games. He scored points in eight of the nine contests, missing what would have been by now a 14-game point streak by just one game. The Junior Bruins’ goal-scoring leader (with 21) also has 36 points, and he has now put up 60 points in 63 career Premier games.

Defense

Trevor Belak, Northern Cyclones

Belak (‘04/Pittsburgh, Pa.) had the breakout month to end all months, as he compiled more points in January than his prior three months with the Cyclones combined. He enjoyed four multi-point performances as he posted three goals and eight assists for eight points to improve to 19 points through 33 games this season. He also was a +6 with six blocked shots and seven hits on the month. He was also the first-place Cyclones’ minutes played leader, averaging 19:25 per game.  

Wesly Brunello, Twin City Thunder

The Thunder clinched a playoff berth in January, and they hope to make some serious noise in March. It’s certainly possible when you have a Wesly Brunello producing at two ends of the ice. Brunello (‘03/Lakeville, Minn.) scored at least a point in each of the Thunder’s six games, putting up five goals and six assists for 11 points in six games for an almost 2.00 point per game average. Brunello outscored all his teammates by six points in January, was a +4 with five blocked shots and five hits. He currently stands with 21 points in 32 games, and he has seen four NCDC games with the Thunder, as well. 

Goaltender

Benjamin Bernard, Boston Advantage

Bernard has been on fire since December, before which he had two wins. Since mid-December, he’s had seven wins and only one overtime loss. From January, the portion of that impressive record is 5-0-1-0, the best record for a New England Division goaltender with at least 180 minutes played last month. Overall, Bernard stopped 199 of 215 games for a .926 save percentage and a 2.62. His only blemish was an OT loss to the division-leading Northern Cyclones, in which he stopped 35 of 38 shots. Bernard is 9-7-2-0 with a .913 save percentage.