Islanders Hockey Club Earn Second Consecutive Showcase Sweep 

The Islanders’ six-game winning streak that has seen them sweep both the Boston Junior Bruins Shootout (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) and the Jersey Hitmen Classic (Oct. 5-8) is one win better than their season-best winning streak last year of of five victories between Jan. 5-20, 2023. However, they still have a long way to go to the next best record mark of 11 wins in 2019-20, between Jan. 3 and Feb. 2, 2020, and much further to the club record of 16 wins, which happened twice during their 47-3 inaugural season of 2017-18. 

The Islanders started out with a 5-1 victory over the Jersey Hitmen, continued with a 6-1 defeat of the Rockets Hockey Club on Saturday and they wrapped with a 4-1 victory against the Mercer Chiefs.

• While their only two losses this season are in overtime, the Islanders are completely undefeated when holding a record after either the first (4-0) or second (6-0) periods. When they’ve been tied or trailed after either the second or first periods, they’ve eventually suffered their losses. Short version: If you’re their opponent, don’t let the IHC go into the locker room with a lead. 
• The Islanders swept two consecutive showcases for only the second time in their career, after they had swept the 2018 USPHL Winter Showcase and the South Shore Kings Presidents Day Showcase back-to-back. Those were part of a string of five straight showcases that they swept that one season.
• The Islanders’ Tikhon Ashikhmin is one of three players sharing the longest active points streak of seven games apiece. Ashikhmin, a second-year Islander, has posted six goals and seven assists for 13 points in this stretch. The ‘03 from Russia is only three points away from tying his 2022-23 points total. And three points is very doable – because he just did it on Oct. 6 against the Rockets. 
• Speaking of hot streaks, the Islanders’ Max Lundgren is tied for the league’s longest goal-scoring streak, as he has five tallies in four games. Another second-year Islander, Lundgren (‘03/Sweden) is six points away from tying his first season totals. 
• At 5-0-1-0, ‘04 goaltender Frank Murphy is the NCDC’s wins leader, one year after leading the USPHL Premier in total wins last season (at 25). All five of Murphy’s wins are consecutive, giving him the longest league wins streak by default as well. 
• Michael Salvatore’s first junior win came against the Jersey Hitmen, as he stopped 35 of 36 shots in the win that opened the IHC’s Hitmen Classic run. Salvatore, currently 1-0-1-0, has a history with the USPHL Midget Divisions and was a participant in the 2020 USPHL 16U All-Star Game while with the Junior Bruins organization.