Pittsburgh, PA - Congratulations to Esmark Stars U16 defenseman Nikita Konevych who was selected by the Tri-City Storm in the 2022 Phase II USHL Draft held on May 2, 2022.

Konevych, a 6'2" / 176 lbs defenseman, from Kalush, Ukraine, joined the Stars program last season.

The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams, located in the midwestern United States, including the Storm, who are located in Kearney, Nebraska.

The USHL Draft takes place during the first week of May each year and is completed in two Phases.

Phase I of the Draft is ten rounds of “Futures” age players only, which are U-17 players for next year’s season (2006 birth year players only for the 2022 Draft).

Phase II of the Draft, which takes place the following day, is open to players of all ages eligible to play junior hockey who are not currently protected by another USHL team.  Teams will fill their roster to a total of 45 players on this date; this includes players who were previously on a team’s Affiliate List. The total number of players that a team will draft will vary depending on the number of Affiliate players a team may have.

All veteran roster players from the 2020-21 season are automatically protected by their current team, separate from the list of 45 players.