SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – Team USA is maintaining its lead at the top of the USHL Eastern Conference standings, thanks in part to this week’s Offensive Player of the Week.
Jack Eichel of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program was named the week’s top forward in the USHL.
The Boston University commit scored three goals and added four assists in a weekend sweep of the Green Bay Gamblers.
Eichel notched a three-goal hat trick for the second time in less than a month Friday night in Team USA’s 8-5 victory over the Gamblers. He also added a pair of assists, giving him a USHL career high five point night.
Eichel, a native of North Chelmsford, Mass., added two more helpers in Saturday’s 4-0 shutout of Green Bay and is now tied for the team lead in points with nine goals for 17 points.
Two players have aided the Sioux Falls Stampede’s move into second place in the USHL’s Western Conference standings, Chad Duchesne and David Jacobson.
Duchesne was named Defenseman of the Week and Jacobson is the league’s co-Goaltender of the Week with Chris Birdsall of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
Duchesne scored two goals and three points this weekend, which helped the Stampede get three of a possible four standings points.
He was part of a penalty killing unit that stopped all seven power play chances in a 4-3 shootout loss to Waterloo Friday night. Duchesne also assisted on a goal.
Saturday, the Inverary, Ontario native scored two first period goals en route to a 6-0 win over Tri-City, the Stampede’s first shutout of an opponent this season.
Duchesne has three goals and ten points in 17 games this year and two of his three goals have been game-winning goals. The Northeastern University commit is fourth in scoring among USHL defensemen.
Saturday’s win over Tri-City for Sioux Falls was also aided by the play of Jacobson at the goal crease. The native of Los Angeles, California fashioned a 1.44 goals against average of a .950 save percentage in the Stampede’s two weekend games.
In Friday’s shootout loss to Waterloo, Jacobson stopped 39 shots and was 9-of-12 in the shootout.
He came back in Saturday’s win going 18-for-18 between the pipes for the shutout victory.
Jacobson is fourth in the USHL with a 2.19 GAA for the season and his eight victories put him in a tie for second in victories among goaltenders.
At the same time, Birdsall posted a pair of wins for the RoughRiders. He earned a 1.44 goals against average and .941 save percentage.
Friday night, he stopped 31 shots, including 16 in the first period of Cedar Rapids’ 3-2 victory over Fargo.
Birdsall, a native of Glen Rock, N.J., stopped 17 more pucks Saturday for a 4-1 victory over Dubuque.
His 5-1-1 record this season includes four victories in his last five starts.
Birdsall is committed to Boston College.
HAUGE FIRED IN TRI-CITY: Tri-City coach and general manager Josh Hauge was relieved of his duties Monday afternoon by team owner Kirk Brooks.
Tri-City’s 4-9-2 record has the Storm at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
“It came down to what I was seeing on the ice and I didn’t like what I was seeing on the ice,” Brooks was quoted as saying to the Kearney Hub newspaper. “I felt like a change was necessary.”
Hauge came to Tri-city midway through the 2011-12 season and posted a record of 46-62-10 with the Storm.
The Storm owner said a new coach would be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Brooks said he made the decision after Tri-City’s 5-2 loss to Omaha on Nov. 8, but delayed an announcement until now because Hauge spent three days last week with his wife, who gave birth to a boy a month early.
Brooks said Hauge would be paid his salary through the end of the season.