USHL Roundup: New leaders emerge for Lincoln Stars, Sioux City Musketeers

CHICAGO — From the leading league scorers to new leaders emerging in the Western Conference, Week 3 of the USHL season has provided a lot to talk about.

On Tuesday, Lincoln announced second-year Stars center Mason Marcellus will wear the 'C' this season, with Antonio Fernandez, Doug Grimes and Boston Buckberger serving as alternate captains.

"Whenever the team ultimately selects captains you have to make sure that they are selected for the right reasons," said Stars head coach Rocky Russo in a release. "You saw natural leadership from our veteran players with Mason, Antonio and Doug. Boston, being a veteran junior hockey player, was able to come in and lead by example and immediately lead by example and become a great piece right away. Those guys are driven to succeed as individuals and collectively as a group and I think they are going to be a great example for the rest of our guys as we move forward."

Buckberger is in his first year with the Stars, while Fernandez and Grimes, along with Marcellus, are in their second season with the team.

Wednesday afternoon the Musketeers announced their team leaders, with Grant Slukynsky leading as captain. Garrett Brown, Sam Deckhut and Ben Doran will serve as the alternate captains.

From first career hat tricks to players putting up numbers on the stat sheet, the Chicago Steel are showing the depth of their team. In the Steel's game against the Madison Captiols on Saturday, Nick Moldenhauer helped lead the Steel to a 6-4 victory over the defending Eastern Conference champions as he earned his first career USHL hat trick. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect had four points on the weekend.

The Chicago Steel noted on their Twitter account how there are only eight skaters in the USHL have have seven or more points so far this season, and four of them are on the Chicago Steel, taking over the top four spots among all USHL skaters. They include Nick Moldenhauer, Jack Harvey, Jayden Perron and Mick Thompson. The other four skaters alluded to in the post are Sam Harris of the Sioux Falls Stampede, Kieran Cebrian of the Tri-City Storm, Miko Matikka of the Madison Capitols and Mason Marcellus of the Lincoln Stars who all are tied with seven points.

With a 4-2 record, the Steel currently sit in first place in the Eastern Conference with eight points.

Prior to their game against the Des Moines Buccaneers on Oct. 8, the defending Clark Cup champions, the Sioux City Musketeers hung their 2022 championship banner in the rafters of the Tyson Events Center. They ended up falling to the Buccaneers 2-1.

The Stampede announced they've acquired Isaac Gordon and a 2023 Phase I 8th round pick from the Chicago Steel, while Chicago receives a 2023 Phase II 1st round pick and a 2023 Phase I 3rd round pick, as well as conditional picks being involved. In addition to Gordon, they also have added Chris Pelosi from the Muskegon Lumberjacks, with the Lumberjacks acquiring Jack Reimann.