In Thursday’s final award announcement, Chicago’s Macklin Celebrini added the latest piece of hardware to his collection as the USHL’s Rookie of the Year was also named the league’s Forward of the Year.
Celebrini becomes the third player in Chicago’s franchise history to win the award and it’s just the latest accolade in what has been a laundry list of honors for the rookie phenom.
"Mack proved he was a dominant player all year," Chicago head coach and general manager Mike Garman said in a statement. "He consistently generated high quality scoring chances while playing a 200-foot game. He never takes a shift off and is always working on both sides of the puck.
"Mack impacts the game in so many ways and is a top-notch teammate and leader."
Congrats to Macklin Celebrini of the @ChicagoSteel for being named USHL Forward of the Year. This comes on the heels of being named USHL Rookie of the Year earlier this week.
— USHL (@USHL) May 4, 2023
Read: https://t.co/kqL7W2639j pic.twitter.com/UEJeTmtOZQ
Celebrini scored a USHL-leading 46 goals and 86 points this season, which were the most points by a U17 player in league history. He also led the league with 21 power-play goals and eight game-winning goals. His 21 power-play tallies were also a Chicago single-season franchise record.
ADVERTISEMENT
Celebrini had 13 multi-goal games — which included four hat tricks — and put together arguably the league’s most impressive individual performance with a five-goal game on Feb. 18.
His 46 goals were six clear of the next closest forward — Chicago teammate Jack Harvey — and Celebrini’s 86 points were seven more than Cedar Rapids winger Ryan Walsh, who finished second in the league with 79 points.
Celebrini and Walsh were named First Team All-USHL selections on Monday, along with Fargo forward Cole Knuble. Celebrini also had a plus-27 rating, which was tied for eighth in the league. Knuble was tied for third with a plus-31.
However, Celebrini was limited to 50 games as he left early to join Canada at the U18 World Championships. The Boston University commit was on pace to surpass the 100-point mark in the USHL but still averaged 1.72 points per game.
Although it won’t count towards his regular-season totals, Celebrini has a chance to add one final chapter to his USHL resume. The Vancouver native will rejoin the Steel this weekend for the Eastern Conference Finals and try to help Chicago capture its third Clark Cup in franchise history.
Celebrini has already received plenty of buzz as the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and one would assume the left-shot forward has to be the favorite for the USHL Player of the Year Award, which will be announced Friday afternoon.
Celebrini joins Matt Coronato (2021) and Andrew Miller (2009) as Chicago players to win the Forward of the Year Award. He's also just the third rookie in league history to win the award, joining Dubuque's Steve MacSwain (1983) and Mike Carlson (1981).
League awards are voted on by each member club’s general manager after each club nominates their players for awards.
ADVERTISEMENT
The USHL awards will conclude on Friday as the Coach of the Year (10 a.m.), GM of the Year (noon) and Player of the Year (2 p.m.) will also be announced.
To view the full schedule of awards for this week, click here.
The Trust Project
