With just over a month until the 2023 NHL Draft, the USHL figures to be well-represented once again.

For the first time in team history, the Youngstown Phantoms are Clark Cup champions.

William Whitelaw is a 2023 NHL Draft-eligible prospect who has been a wrecking ball for the Youngstown Phantoms down the stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs.

It’s rare for a former player to have coached at two of his previous stops, but that’s exactly what the Fargo Force’s Nick Oliver has achieved.

The 2023 Clark Cup Final is going to be an especially exciting matchup between two teams that have brought entertainment value with their winning brand of hockey. They’re two of the league’s top five goal-scoring teams, but they’re also the top two in fewest goals allowed.

It all comes down to this. The Clark Cup Final will feature two of the league’s most explosive teams as the Fargo Force meet the Youngstown Phantoms in a best-of-five series.

Macklin Celebrini completed a very rare sweep of USHL postseason awards Friday. After being named Rookie of the Year and Forward of the Year on previous days, the USHL announced that the Chicago Steel forward was the league’s Player of the Year.

And then there were four.

On to Round 2.

The USHL’s Clark Cup Playoffs begin this week with the first round that will feature eight of the 12 teams that made the postseason. Each of the top two teams in both conferences have earned a first-round bye and will await the winners of the first-round series.

MONCTON, N.B. – As USHL teams got to enjoy a bit of an extended holiday break thanks to Christmas falling on what otherwise would have been a game weekend, 12 current USHLers didn’t get to rest up. Instead, they traveled to the 2023 World Junior Championship where they put on their nation’s colors to compete at one of the biggest hockey events on the calendar.

For the first time since 2018, the U.S. Junior Select Team finished the World Junior A Challenge on top as they defeated Canada East 5-2 to claim the tournament title. Team USA, which was comprised entirely of USHL players, finished the tournament with a 5-1 record, which includes wins over Sweden and Canada East in the playoff round to secure top honors. This is the ninth World Junior A Challenge title for the U.S. in the event's 15-year history.

The 2022 World Junior A Challenge is back after a two-year absence thanks to the pandemic. The mid-season event has often been a fruitful scouting ground for NHL teams as it allows them to see USHL and Canadian Junior A players in a different environment from their regular teams, and also gets some extra views of top European players.

Coast to Coast is FloHockey's monthly, cohesive news on North American hockey and livestreaming partnerships.

With a busy Thanksgiving weekend in the rearview mirror, the calendar has flipped to December.