In an organization deep with goal scorers, Justin Ducharme has found a landing spot with the ECHL’s top-scoring team.

Among the Idaho Steelheads forwards, he may just be emerging as one of the most productive offensive threats.

Ducharme has been on fire while on assignment in Idaho from the American Hockey League’s Texas Stars, finding his way onto the score sheet more often than not when taking the ice for the Steelheads.

“I’m just happy to be here right now and be able to contribute to the team’s success,” said Ducharme. “Let’s just hope it stays that way.”

While he was held off the score sheet in Wednesday night’s 5-0 win against the Tulsa Oilers, those occurrences have been rare. Ducharme has had either a goal or an assist in 12 of the 15 games he’s suited up for Idaho. He’s recorded seven goals and nine assists on the year, good for more than a point per game.

“He has a lot of good offensive instincts,” said Idaho coach Everett Sheen. “He’s got a lot of speed and has a tremendous shot. He knows where to go to get rewarded on the score sheet, and he’s got enough speed to beat a lot of guys in our league to those areas.”

Currently in his second stint this season in the ECHL, following a three-game stay in Idaho in November, Ducharme has been a huge addition to the Steelheads, who have the ECHL’s best record and lead the league with 176 goals. Texas sent him back to Idaho on Jan. 11, two days before the start of a two-game home series against the Utah Grizzlies. He had a goal and three assists in those two games.

In last weekend’s three-game road series against Tulsa, he had three goals and an assist, including a two-goal night in a loss on Sunday.

By comparison, he’s seen the ice in just three games during his time up in Texas this season, recording one assist in those games.

A part of his limited playing time in Texas likely has to do with the depth in the organization, all the way up to the NHL’s Dallas Stars. In addition to having Idaho lead the ECHL in goals, Texas is second in the AHL, just one behind the Calgary Wranglers. Dallas is also in the top 10 in the NHL in goals scored this season.

“It’s definitely big, organizationally Dallas is deep and doing well, Texas is and same thing for us,” said Sheen. “What helps is we’ve built continuity. It’s not guys going up and down every week. We just come together as a team and gel, which is good. Having Ducharme is nice. If a guy is banged up, we have him to rely on, and every other guy in that lineup. It’s nice to have depth.”

That depth, in part, was one of the reason’s Ducharme opted to sign an AHL contract with the Texas Stars before the start of the season. Having grown up just outside of Montreal, Ducharme had spent his entire hockey career up until that point playing in or near Quebec

He played his junior hockey career in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he won a QMJHL and Memorial Cup Championships with the New Brunswick-based Acadie–Bathurst Titan. During his rookie season last year, he split time between AHL’s Laval and ECHL’s Trios-Rivieres, both of whom are Montreal Canadien affiliates.

But in the Stars, he saw a roster that he felt could be competitive this season. He took a shot at Texas, and while he currently is playing down in Idaho, he still finds himself playing on a deep team with dreams of winning a championship.

“I just took it as a challenge and I showed up in Texas, trying to make the team,” Ducharme said. “It’s just something special to be a part of this year, both in Texas or here in Idaho.”

Of course, there was a little bit of adjustment living in either state, both of which are very different from Quebec, even outside the differences in language. He noticed some of those differences immediately.

“There’s no hockey on TV in Texas, that was the first thing I noticed,” Ducharme joked. “It’s only football. I’m not a huge football guy, so that was something to adapt to. But other than that, it’s such a great organization here. Everyone from the staff to the players to the people working at the rink, everybody is just so nice and I really like it.”

Ducharme admitted to picking up a little bit of football, just so he can be a part of the conversations in the locker room. He said he’ll be pulling for the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl this weekend because quarterback Patrick Mahomes is one of the few players he does know.

And with his play on the ice as of late and his consistent appearance on the stat sheet, Ducharme is making sure the fans at Idaho Central Arena learn his name.

“Once you get the first one out of the way, it flows from there,” Ducharme said. “There’s just so many talented guys on the team here, so it’s easy to play with anyone. It’s going good right now, and we’re going to try and keep it that way.”

Zane Franklin scored a pair of goals for Idaho in Wednesday’s win, while Remi Poirier made 37 saves to record his third shutout of the season and Idaho’s seventh of the year.

That ripple effect gets felt all the way down to the ECHL level.