On Tuesday, November 5th, 2024, ECHL announced that Savannah Ghost Pirates Forward Riley Hughes earned the Inglasco Player Of The Week honors.
Hughes scored a goal on October 30th in a victory over the Orlando Solar Bears. On Friday, November 1st, he tallied one goal and two assists in helping the Ghost Pirates sink the Swamp Rabbits. In the last battle of the weekend against the Atlanta Gladiators, he grabbed a pair of assists to end the week of points.
Hughes is on an AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers. He is currently leading the ECHL in scoring among rookies with 10 points. He has five goals and five assists and has dressed in six games for Savannah thus far. The Massachusetts native started his professional career last season when he played in 12 games for the Iowa Heartlanders last season after his collegiate career season ended at Ohio State.
“It’s usually weird going to new teams, but I had a good amount of friends in Savannah from training camp in Charlotte, so it wasn’t an intimidating transition at all. Obviously, my goal was to make the Checkers out of camp, but I was expecting to start here in Savannah and get better.”
- Hughes on transitioning teams- Per Savannah Ghost Pirates/ECHL
This will mark the first time in Savannah’s young franchise history that a player earns ECHL Player Of The Week honors. Former Savannah Goaltender Michael Bullion was named ECHL Goaltender of the Week for the week of 2/26-3/3 earlier this year.