By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Saukhockey.info
The Dells Ducks are off to the Motor City this weekend for their second and final USPHL Premier League Showcase.
The Ducks will be one of six Midwest-West Division teams competing at the 19-team event along with teams from the Midwest-East, Great Lakes and Atlantic Divisions.
The Ducks will play their first of two games on Friday at noon (EST) against the Buffalo Stampede, then take on MJDP at 6:30 p.m.
The team will get the quick turnaround, back on the ice at 8:30 a.m. Saturday against the Cincinnati Cyclones, wrapping it up at 4 p.m. Sunday against the Chicago Crush.
Following is a quick look at the four games Ducks will play this weekend.
Dells Ducks (4-13-1-1) vs. Buffalo Stampede (2-17-0-0)
The Ducks are coming off a tough weekend in Wisconsin Rapids and enter the weekend riding a three-game losing streak and 1-3 in the month so far.
The Stampede opened play in Detroit Thursday with a 6-4 loss against the Minnesota Moose, running its own losing streak to two games after collecting a sweep on home ice against the Columbus Mavericks Nov. 10-11. Before that, the Stampede dropped its first 13 games of the regular season.
Ducks have outscored the Stampede 47-34 through 19 games and would love to set the tone for a successful weekend with a win in the opener. This will be the first time the Stampede and Ducks have played against each other.
Ducks are led offensively by defenseman Jack Kopfstein with seven goals and 17 points while Owen Plumert leads the team in goals with eight and is second in points with 12.
The Stampede is led by Caden Cavelieri who has six goals and 13 points and Matthew Riblet with three goals and a dozen points.
In goal, the Ducks will likely use four different goaltenders on the weekend, but which goaltender will play in which game is still to be determined.
Dells Ducks (4-13-1-1) vs. MJDP (7-2-0-2)
MJDP, part of the Metro Jets program that is hosting the event is coming in hot to this game having opened the tournament with a 7-2 win against the Minnesota Blue Ox on Thursday and they will take on the Moose earlier Friday before facing the Ducks.
This is the first showcase for MJDP and the have played eight games fewer than the Ducks as of Thurdsday night.
The team’s leading scorer is Royal St. Cyr with six goals and 15 points and he is closely followed by Jacques Lavrack with four goals and 12 points.
Dells Ducks (4-13-1-1) vs. Cincinnati Cyclones (0-14-1-0)
The Cyclones are still searching for their first win of the regular season and sit at the bottom of the Great Lakes Division.
Saturday against the Ducks will be the first game of the Showcase for Cincy with others against Elmira Impact, Chicago Cougars and Decatur Blaze on the weekend.
Garrett Elliott is the team’s leading scorer heading into the weekend with five goals and eight points.
The team has scored just 23 goals in 15 games.
Dells Ducks (4-13-1-1) vs. Chicago Crush (8-3-1-0)
The Crush sit third in the Midwest-East division but oddly, will roll into Detroit without a game played since the Minnesota Showcase in late October.
Both the Ducks and Crush will be playing their finale Sunday against each other. The Crush schedule is similar to the Ducks with games against Columbus and Buffalo from the Great Lakes Division Friday and a Saturday game against the Hershey Cubs.
The Crush is led offensively by Caden Day with six goals and 12 points followed by three players with eight each.
Duck Quacks — The Ducks could be joined by Chris Maszurek in Detroit as he has apparently made his way back to the team after being the leader in goal last season. That is a silver lining with some related bad news as Michael Carden suffered his second concussion of the season in Wisconsin Rapids last weekend. The schedule for Carden’s return is unclear as of today.
— The Ducks will cross the halfway mark of the regular season in Detroit and have not had a weekend off since the start of the regular season. That will continue through the Thanksgiving Weekend, generally a dark weekend. The team has been scheduled to play Sunday (Nov. 26) with an important game in Owatonna, MN against the Steele County Blades.
The grind will continue into December as the Ducks travel to Nashville for a cross-division series against the Nashville Spartans from the Great Lakes Division.
A highly anticipated weekend off will follow with a three-game homestand Dec. 15-17 wrapping up a short five-game month of December.
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