Barnish Scores, ECHL'ers pick up Assists in Jr. Cyclones Win
USPHL NOTEBOOK
Some early-season notes from the six USPHL franchises in and around Ohio:
Reynoldsburg native Drake Barnish is filling opposing nets in the United States Premier Hockey League once again. Scoring goals in the USPHL is nothing new for the Ohio native but now, thanks to the league’s expanding footprint in the region, he gets to do it closer to home.
Barnish played for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets and Dayton Stealth growing up before joining the Hudson (WI) Havoc of the USPHL for a three-year stint. He lit the lamp with regularity for the Havoc, including putting up a 37-32-69 scoring line in 44 games last year.
The 6’2”, 190-pound right wing is only building on that scoring pace with the first-year Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones franchise. Through last weekend’s games, not a single player in the 64-team USPHL Premier level had put more pucks in the net than Barnish’s 11.
“I’m back in my home state and closer to home,” Barnish said. “It’s pretty awesome.”
The goal-scoring winger is not a one-trick pony. He can get the job done a number of different ways.
“I can shoot the puck or bury dirty goals in front of the net,” he said. “It’s like a mindset knowing every day you are going to score. You are going to produce and do everything you can possibly do to help the team win.”
His relationship with Jr. Cyclones general manager and head coach Jim Mitchell dates back to his Dayton Stealth days.
“It’s not a magic pill,” Mitchell said when asked how Barnish has found success. “It’s hard work, every day.”
Barnish has seven assists to go with his 11 goals, giving him 18 points in just eight games on the season.
“He prepares like a pro,” Mitchell said of his star sniper. “He is the hardest-working player on the ice every day. He’s the best in practice, that translates to games, and that’s why he is our captain.”
Eight games into their inaugural USPHL season, Cincinnati finds itself right in the middle of the seven-team Great Lakes Division with a record of 3-5-0.
The team plays out of Heritage Bank Center, the home of the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, and is reaping the benefits of a close relationship – both formal and informal – with the pro club. For one thing, the locker rooms and offices for the pro and Junior teams are right next to each other.
Jason Payne, the head coach of the ECHL ‘Clones, mentioned on a recent appearance on the Ohio Hockey Digest On Air podcast that he walked past the weight room recently and ended up giving some Jr. Cyclones tips on proper weightlifting techniques.
Payne was also in the building during a recent game where frustration was setting in for Mitchell’s group. He sent a note down to the room with a suggestion on an adjustment that the Jr. Cyclones could make (It was the same thing Mitchell had told them in the first intermission).
Payne accepted an invitation from Mitchell to address his players between the second and third periods.
“Maybe if you hear it from you it will sink in,” he said.
It sunk in.
Cincinnati scored twice in the final frame to defeat the Lake Erie Bighorns, 2-1. Barnish supplied the game-winner with just :03 left on the clock.
“It’s great for my players to see the pros working out and practicing,” Mitchell said of being in such close proximity to the pro team. “They have a winning culture with the ECHL team, and we are trying to establish that.”
Mitchell hopes that culture can extend top-down from the ECHL team, through the USPHL team, and permeate the youth hockey program as well.
“(10-year pro) Justin Vaive ran my morning skate the other day because I couldn’t be there,” said Mitchell. “That’s pretty cool and it all starts with Jason Payne.”
Barnish agreed.
“It’s nice to have a pro guy or a pro coach come talk to you and give you their thoughts on how you are doing and how the team is doing,” he said. “And it definitely helps out a lot giving our coaches a different point of view.”
ELSEWHERE AROUND THE USPHL
COLUMBUS MAVERICKS – Former Ohio AAA Blue Jacket and Olentangy Liberty Pioneer Nik Jozefiak (Powell/2002) is getting more engaged in the flow offensively in his second year with the Mavs. After scoring just once as a USPHL rookie in 2019-20, the 19-year-old blue liner found the net in each of the first three games this season and has produced seven points (4-3-7) through the first seven games for Columbus...Another second-year Maverick, Ethan Bishara, scored nine goals (9-5-14) in the first seven games of the season. The former Buffalo Jr. Sabre AAA forward put up 32 points (15-17-32) in 35 games last season.
FORT WAYNE SPACEMEN - Kaleigh Schrock’s Fort Wayne Spacemen are charged with replacing the scoring of Jared Fisher, who tallied 86 goals in 86 games over two seasons in Fort Wayne before aging out of Junior hockey at the end of last season. Through their first four games, it looks like the Spacemen are going to attempt to fill the void by scoring by committee. Seven different Fort Wayne skaters scored between 2-4 goals and a pair of defensemen, 19-year-old Noah Maine and 20-year-old Austin Buck, ranked 1-2 on the team in scoring…When it comes to keeping the puck out of the Fort Wayne net, the Spacemen will rely on some young talent new to Junior hockey and, in one case, new to the United States. 18-year-old Quebec import Antoine Robidoux-Hurtubise stopped 52 of 53 shots to win his first two starts “south of the border”. He has split starts with 20-year-old Belarussian goalie Mikhail Melnikov, who has actually been developing in The States for some time, including stints with the Cleveland Barons and the USPHL’s Provo Riverblades…The Spacemen also signed former Cleveland Wildcats 15U AAA netminder Aiden Orlikowski (2004/Seven Hills) in August. He appears on the Fort Wayne roster but has not appeared in any games yet this season.
LAKE ERIE BIGHORNS – Goaltender Nicholas Ciccarelli kept the Lake Erie Bighorns in their game at Cincinnati on Sunday. The 19-year-old Ontario native kept the Cyclones off the board for the first 55:38 of the game, and sopped 45 of 47 shots in all, but the Bighorns ultimately lost 2-1…18-year-old right wing Jayden Balcarczyk has picked up points in four of his last five games as he adjusts to Junior hockey in his first season out of Orchard Park (NY) High School…Lake Erie will look to improve on their 1-4-1 start when they take on the Pittsburgh Vengeance in a home-and-home series Friday and Saturday.
TOLEDO CHEROKEE – Toledo jumped out to another hot start, winning four of its first five games. 20-year-old Joey Cormier has been between the pipes for three of those four Cherokee wins, posting a 3-1-0 record with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage. Cormier’s success should come as no surprise. He was named the 2020 Michigan High School Hockey Player of the Year while starring for Trenton High School. He recorded a .944 save percentage over 27 games played during the regular season, then took his game to a new level in the state playoffs, stopping 97% of the shots he faced to win his first four starts. He repeated that trend in his first season of Junior hockey with the Cherokee. His quality regular season numbers (2.63/.925) were exceeded by his performance (2.20/.939) in five post-season starts as he backstopped Toledo to a spot at the USPHL National tournament.
WOOSTER OILERS – Wooster’s Aiden Dempsey (Rocky River/2002) is finding success early in his second season in the USPHL. He collected points in three straight games between October 3-8, including a two-goal effort in a 5-4 OT loss to Motor City Hockey Club on October 3. Last year, Dempsey scored 12 goals and assisted on 19 more for 31 points in 42 games played for the Oilers. The Oilers’ return to Wooster a year ago allowed him to continue his development path in Ohio after playing for the Cleveland Barons, Team Ohio and Rocky River High School.
--- Scott Harrington for Ohio Hockey Digest
