USHL Prospect - Mace'o Phillips

[Reggie Dunlop]

Phillips has been returned to the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL.

He has committed to the University of Minnesota Gophers for the 2026-27 season.

[Lewis_D]

After his performance in the prospects game I'm excited to follow his development in USHL then NCAA.

Wasn't there talk earlier in the summer he could have possibly ended up playing in the WHL this season at Portland?

[getbak]

Yeah, he had the choice of either Green Bay or Portland and chose Green Bay.

[Hockey-and_stuff]

Needs to take on a bigger offensive role this year. I'm predicting something in the range of 1-300 points this season.

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[Sandman]

Sept.26:

Phillips played his first game of the season for the Gamblers, putting up no points, 2 minutes for Roughing, and a -2 in a 3-0 loss to Muskegon.

The Gamblers have already played 3 games, but have yet to win, with 2 regulation losses and a SOL.

[Ba'alzamon]

I watched this game. I wrote a rather verbose and mostly tongue-in-cheek game summary on FlamesNation. The skinny is Green Bay was horrible and Phillips had a mostly rough outing with some good moments sprinkled in.

The score does not do justice to how bad the Gamblers were. They had seven shots on goal. Total. Muskegon was half-asleep and still made them look like a pee wee team.

This was my concluding bit on Phillips' performance:

over all, I have to say it wasn't a banner evening for our hero. For the most part I'd say he knew where to go and what to do (though there were occasions where he could have taken another stride or three to establish position and completely shut things down, but instead coasted and awkwardly reached in with his stick; at least one of these occasions I'm pretty sure he was worried about flattening his own goalie, though)--but it was his hands and feet that let him down. He was very slow to close gaps, and while he didn't quite hot potato the puck, his puck skills were definitely lacking with exaggerated and slow motions. IMO he was much stronger on the PK, despite the fact that he was oddly lining up on the right side (he played both sides at even strength, but mostly the left). There was also one shift in the third where he kind of just wandered around lost in a very Joni Jurmo like fashion.

Just one game, but not one where I thought he put his best foot forward. Though, in his defense, Green Bay as a whole was awful. Like, comically bad. You got the impression that none of those guys had ever seen each other before, much less played together.

[Sandman]

Sept.27th:

Phillips was all zeroes, except for 1 shot, as Green Bay loses again to Muskegon- this time by a score of 3-2 (the Gamblers put up a much better effort tonight, outshooting their opponents by a count of 36-24). 2gp/0g/0a/0pts,-2, 2 PIM.

[Sandman]

Sept.4th:

Phillips gets 1a (secondary on the game-tying goal), and was +1 in a 2-1 OT win over the NTDP. 3gp/0g/1a/1pt,-1, 2 PIM.

[Sandman]

Sept.5th:

Phillips gets no points, but was +1 with 2 PIM and 6 shots in a 5-1 win over the NTDP. 4gp/0g/1a/1pt,even, 4 PIM.

[Ba'alzamon]

Is the USNTDP weak again this year? Losing two in a row to the Green Bay Gamblers doesn't reflect particularly well on them.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

Is the USNTDP weak again this year? Losing two in a row to the Green Bay Gamblers doesn't reflect particularly well on them.

Seems to be the case. They are the 3rd-worst team currently in the USHL, and their roster looks pretty non-descript- aside from a few recognizable names.

[Sandman]

Oct.10th:

No points, even, and 14 PIM (game ejection for continuing altercation, plus 2 roughing minors) for Phillips in a 5-4 loss to Waterloo. 5gp/0g/1a/1pt,even, 18 PIM.

[Sandman]

Phillips scores his first goal of the season in a 6-4 victory over Waterloo, and adds a +1 to go with 6 PIM. 6gp/1g/1a/2pts,+1, 24 PIM.

[Sandman]

Oct.16th:

Phillips earns 1a, and was +1 in a 6-2 win over the NTDP. 7gp/1g/2a/3pts,+3, 24 PIM. Green Bay are surprisingly tied for 6th overall (out of 16 teams). They are 3rd overall in goals-for (probably due to playing the NTDP three times already), and 11th in goals-against.

[Sandman]

Oct.18th:

Phillips gets no points, but racks up 17 PIM (2 for cross-checking, 5 and a 10 for fighting) in a 4-2 loss to Youngstown. 8gp/1g/2a/3pts,+4, 41 PIM.

[Francis's Hairpiece]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Oct.18th:

Phillips gets no points, but racks up 17 PIM (2 for cross-checking, 5 and a 10 for fighting) in a 4-2 loss to Youngstown. 8gp/1g/2a/3pts,+4, 41 PIM.

At least tell me he won the fight!

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Francis's Hairpiece

At least tell me he won the fight!

I wish I could say that he did....

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP-RQQrgALO/

Brody Berard isn't even six feet tall- listed at 5'11.25" and 196lbs....

[Sandman]

Green Bay and Youngstown had a re-match on the 19th, with GB winning 5-1. Phillips was not in the lineup.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Sandman

I wish I could say that he did....

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP-RQQrgALO/

Brody Berard isn't even six feet tall- listed at 5'11.25" and 196lbs....

Phillips probably had no idea who he was. It happens. i would rather Phillips not fight much anyway, and have him work with some enforcers in the off-season to know how to better handle himself, or at least taking some boxing lessons. Really just hope that Phillips is ok. That one looked like it rocked him good, and that Berard kid looked like he got a couple of more in when Phillips was dazed. Definitely don't like seeing it.


This Berard kid is scary though. Not only is he sub 6 foot, but he is only 16. That punch reminded me of Ferland back in the WHL when he did that to a few goons in the league.


Just hope Phillips is ok. Ferland's fighting style led to him eating a lot of punches during fights, plus he got a few hits to the head early in his NHL career. I loved Ferland for the complete package that he was. Definitely made the Flames much harder to play against. I think I will keep tabs on this Berard kid and see if he develops into something.

NSFW!

[Sandman]

Oct.24th:

Green Bay is defeated by Chicago by a score of 4-2. Phillips was not in the lineup.