Quinn Finley is back where his junior hockey career started.

With the holidays in the rearview, the Chicago Steel sit comfortably atop the USHL’s Eastern Conference with 40 points.

Jake Ratzlaff never imagined his athletic career would take such a winding path. When asked if his younger self would’ve seen this coming, the answer started with two words.

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.

Besides a Wednesday morning tilt between Muskegon and the USNTDP, this week’s slate is compacted into two days.

Several USHL rosters will be impacted this weekend as 22 of the league’s top players will represent Team USA at the World Junior A Challenge.

When the U.S. National Junior Team’s preliminary roster was announced, 10 of the 32 players selected are defenseman, while four were goaltenders. USA Hockey’s decision makers will have to cut one goaltender and three defensemen from their invite list to get down to the numbers required for the tournament. The expectation is USA will have 13 forwards, seven defensemen and three goaltenders on its roster.

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

A dozen teams will get very familiar with their opponent as this weekend’s slate features six back-to-backs. Fifteen of the 16 USHL teams will be in action and as we’ve hit the quarter mark of the season, teams are looking to separate themselves. Let's take a look at some of the top series to watch this weekend.

The World Junior A Challenge is a winter showcase event hosted by Hockey Canada, featuring two Canadian regional teams representing the East and West, a U.S. team and teams from Sweden and Latvia. The U.S. roster is often made up primarily of USHL players and this year will be no different.

Madison Capitols forward Miko Matikka grew up in Finland idolizing Russian superstars Ilya Kovalchuk and Alex Ovechkin. Perhaps it’s fitting that the 6-foot-3, right-shot winger plays a similar style and wears the No. 8 on his back.

It’s another busy slate of games as all 16 USHL teams will hit the ice, division leaders will collide and three sets of back-to-backs will make for intense and entertaining hockey. Without further ado, here’s a look at the week ahead.

CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. – If there was a theme of Day 2 of the DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic, it’d probably be goals galore. Every single game featured one of the teams scoring six or more goals on their way to victories. There were 38 goals total scored among the five games, an average of 7.6 goals scored per game. So if you liked scoring, Friday’s games were for you.

CRANBERRY TWP., Pa – The 2022-23 USHL season is officially underway. Five games opened the action at the DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic with plenty of good games and solid individual performances.

Starting Thursday, USHL players will be taking their first skate strides of the 2022-23 season at the DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic. For some, this will be their first chance in a live game to show what they can do for the NHL draft, for others it might be their first foray into junior hockey, but for all it’s another important year of development as each looks to make progress to ascend the hockey ladder to the next levels.