USPHL Premier Players Of The Week: South Region

Games of Jan. 1-9, 2023

(Summaries by Joshua Boyd / USPHL.com)

Florida Division

Forward: Derwin Hauser, Palm Beach Typhoon

No USPHL Premier player had more points in the first nine days of 2023 than Hauser, who put up six goals (two on the power play and one shorthanded) and five assists for 11 points at the USPHL Tampa Showcase. Hauser, an ‘03 from Minot, N.D., who already has ACHA college experience, helps give the Typhoon yet another weapon, with 39 points in 27 games. He is one of three players on his team with at least 30 points on the season so far.

Defense: Giovanni Grassi, Atlanta MadHatters

Grassi (‘03/Bologna, Italy) helped the Atlanta MadHatters go 3-1-0-0 at the USPHL Tampa Showcase, posting a goal and four assists for five points. The MadHatters defeated the Great Lakes Division-leading Toledo Cherokee as well as the Chicago Cougars, both teams making multiple trips to the Nationals the last couple years. Their only loss was by a 2-1 score to a playoff-bound first-year Minnesota Squatch team that features two of the top 10 scorers in the league. Grassi has also played this year with the NCDC’s Twin City Thunder.

Goaltender: Blake Mons, Tampa Bay Juniors

The four-year Premier veteran Mons (‘02/Charleston, S.C.) put up a fantastic show to win three games as the Juniors swept all five of their games at the USPHL Tampa Showcase, hosted by the Juniors themselves. Over his three games in net, he posted a .940 save percentage by turning away 79 of the 84 shots he faced and he also ended with a 1.62 GAA. With 75 games in net over his Premier career, Mons moved into second all-time to Jack Bostedt, formerly of the Minnesota Mullets and now at College of St. Scholastica, who played in 97.

Southeast Division

Forward: Ronan Keenan, Nashville Spartans

Another long-time USPHL veteran, Keenan (‘03/Lawrence, N.J.) began his career at the USPHL Elite level in 2019-20. He led all Southeast Division skaters in scoring at the USPHL Tampa Showcase, putting up four goals and adding five assists for nine points in four games. In doing so, he also pushed his points per game average over 1.00 with 36 points in 35 games so far on the season.

Defense: C.J. Stucky, Carolina Jr. Hurricanes

Also moving above 1.00 point per game on average was the Jr. Canes’ ‘02 blueliner from Everett, Wash. After scoring a goal and seven assists for eight points (to lead all USPHL Premier defensemen since Jan. 1), he moved his points total to 28 through 27 games played so far this year. He was also a +7 to lead the Jr. Canes at the showcase.

Goaltender: Nick Anderson, Charlotte Rush

The Rush went 4-0 through their USPHL Tampa Showcase run, with two of those victories going to yet another veteran presence in the Premier. Anderson (‘03/Rochester, N.Y.) stopped 52 of 56 shots in a pair of victories against the Midwest West Division’s Minnesota Blue Ox and Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings for a .929 save percentage, a 2-0 record and a 2.00 GAA. Anderson is in a three-way tie for first in wins in the USPHL Premier with 16, and fourth since the start of the 2021-22 season – his first – with 27 victories.