Players of the Week for Dec 18

The 2022 portion of the NCHL's regular season has come to a close as the teams take a few weeks off for Christmas and New Years. Following games last weekend, here are my picks for this week's players of the week.

Lucas Isley (BP) - Lucas scored 2-1-3 to help power the Pontiacs to their home ice win over Devon on their 70th Anniversary evening.

Clayton Eisler (WW) - Clayton lead the Warriors to their home ice win over Camrose by scoring 2-0-2.

Bryce Wilson (LG) - Bryce scored 2-0-2 to help the Generals to their home ice win over Red Deer.

Honourable Mentions go out to:

Nick Bell (RDR) - 2-2-4

Taylor Heck (WW) - 0-3-3

Denis Cadrin (BP) - 0-3-3

Red Deer's Tyler Berkholtz continues to lead the league in scoring with 13-15-28 followed closely by team-mate Dylan Houston with 10-16-26.  Camrose's RJ Reed and Lacombe's Cam Maclise sit tied for 3rd with 11-12-23.  Camrose's Ryley Bennefield rounds out the top 5 with 13-8-21. 

Red Deer's Tim Vanstone leads all rookie scorers with 6-13-19.  Lacombe's Thomas Beretta sits in 2nd with 3-8-11, Morinville's pair of Matt Benko and Kruise Reddick are tied for 3rd with 10 points each. Camrose's Thomas Ward-Cardinal rounds out the top 5 with 9 points

Red Deer's pair of Cory Pritz and Shawn Rowe lead all defensemen in scoring with 12 points, followed closely by Rustler's team mate Nick Bell and Lacombe's Scott Maetche tied for 2nd with 11. Morinville teammates Thomas Carr and Matt Benko sit tied for 3rd with 10 points. 

Devon's rookie net minder Jordon Cooke leads all goaltenders (minimum 4 games played) with a 2.47 goals against average, followed closely by Lacombe's Mac Engel with 2.58. 

Rhett Dudley of Camrose leads the league in penalty minutes with 62 followed by Devon's Aaron Fedyk with 45 and Westlock's Zach Mills with 41.

Here is a list of team penalty totals so far this season.

Camrose 297 

Westlock 263

Devon 230

Red Deer 192

Morinville 162

Lacombe 136

Bonnyville 104

Morinville's power play is currently ranked #1 at 32.14%, followed by Red Deer at 31.25% and Lacombe at 28.57%. 

Lacombe's penalty kill ranks #1 at 85.37%, followed by Morinville at 79.07% and Westlock at 78.18%

The league will resume action on January 7th for the last month of the regular season as teams jockey for playoff positions.

The NCHL Executive would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!