PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Under-18 forward Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.) won the USHL's Forward of the Week for Week 16, giving Team USA back-to-back winners after Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) took home the honors last week.

In just one game played on Thursday night, Perreault recorded an NTDP career-high with four goals scored and a season-high with five total points.

The Boston College commit kicked off the game's scoring after he finished a set-up from Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) and Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) late in the opening period. Perreault added his second less than 30 seconds into the middle period and completed his first career NTDP hat-trick midway through the period with a quick snap-shot from the slot, the eventual game-winning goal.

For good measure, Perreault capped the game's scoring with his fourth of the night, his 30th of the season, late in regulation. The 5-foot-11 forward also assisted on Kai Janviriya's (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) in the second period to tie his career-high with five points in a game, a feat he matched back on March 25, 2022 when he had a goal and four helpers in Cedar Rapids.

On the season, Perreault's 30 goals, 64 points and six game-winning goals all are tops on the Under-18 Team.

MVP HONORS: With two goals and an assist for a game-high three points in the contest, U18 forward Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) was named Player of the Game for the 2023 BioSteel All-American Game which took place Monday night at USA Hockey Arena.

Smith scored his first of the night, an unassisted tally, just past the midway mark of the second period to put Team Blue up 2-1, a lead they would never relinquish. Early in the third, Smith earned a penalty shot and beat Team White netminder Jack Spicer under the glove to push Blue's lead to 5-2.

Smith added an assist on Ryan Leonard's (Amherst, Mass.) clinching empty-net goal with under a minute to play in regulation for the 6-3 Blue win.

Smith, who has 59 points (22g-37a) in  32 games this year and leads the U18s with 1.84 points-per-game, joins the list of BioSteel All-American Game MVPs, which includes Rutger McGroarty (2022), Sasha Pastujov (2021) and Jake Sanderson (2020) since the game has been played at USA Hockey Arena.

34 FOR 34:  U17 forward Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) tallied less than a minute into Saturday night's game against Green Bay to give No. 34 his 34th goal of the season in 33 games played.

Since returning stateside from the team's U17 Four Nations victory in December, Eiserman has netted five times in five games.

On the season, the University of Minnesota commit leads all NTDP skaters with his 34 goals, including a multi-goal effort in his lone game dressed with the Under-18 squad. His 11 power-play markers also lead all players in the program and his 56 total points ranks third between all U17 and U18 players.

KEEP IT SIMPLE: The Under-18 Team matched the Madison Capitols shot total at 31 apiece in Thursday night's 6-2 win in Middleton, Wisconsin.

With the win, the NTDP, combined between the U17s and U18s, extended its record to 30-2-0-1 when at least equaling the number of shots as its opponent.

The Under-18 Team has run an impressive 17-1-0-1 record when outshooting or equaling their opponent in shots while the U17s have been every bit their equal, garnering a 13-1-0-0 record in such instances.

RAMMER'S RUN:  U18 defenseman Aram Minnetian (Woodcliff Lake, N.J.) has been on a tear of late as he enters the weekend on a four-game point streak, his second such streak of the season after he recorded at least a point in all four games at the November Five Nations event.

Minnetian started the breakout on Team USA's final goal Thursday night against Madison to secure the U18s' 6-2 win. The following night against the Badgers, he earned two more assists in the 6-1 victory for his third multi-point effort over his last four games played.

Since the start of the new year, the future Boston College Eagle has seven points in four games, earning one-third of his season point total during that run. All three multi-point nights have come against NCAA competition against Michigan, Mercyhurst and then Wisconsin last week.

Minnetian's 21 points (5g-16a) leads all U18 defensemen and ranks him eighth among all players on the team.