WEST CHESTER, Pa. -- Noel Rubin traveled from the east coast to Alaska in 1984 with the Philadelphia Junior Flyers as a pee wee to play for a national title.

Rubin’s players on the New Jersey Colonials Tier I 14U youth team earned him a trip back to the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships by winning the Atlantic District tournament at the Ice Line Quad Rinks.

The Colonials prevented the North Jersey Avalanche from making it a clean sweep of the district’s Tier I titles when they won the best-of-three 14U series in two games, 2-0 and 5-3.

“This has been a long time coming for me,” said Rubin, whose team finished fourth in the nation in his days as a youth player.

John Farinucci and Marshall Warren scored two goals each to lead a come-from-behind effort in the second game.

Farinucci scored one of his goals shorthanded to force the tie.

Warren scored the game-winner in the last minute of the second period and again with 14 seconds left, both on assists from Danny Colon. The game-winner came off of a faceoff and the last goal was an empty-netter.

The title series continued a successful run for many of the players who make up the team. The core of the group has been together through six straight Atlantic Youth Hockey League (AYHL) regular-season titles as they’ve progressed through the age groups. This is the second time in three years that they have won a district title and the first time they’ve been old enough to qualify for nationals.

“About half of the team has been together the whole six years,” Rubin said.

The USA Hockey 14U Tier I Youth Nationals are scheduled for Anchorage from March 31-April 4.

Matt Schoer made five of his 12 saves in the third period of the 2-0 win in Saturday’s opening game.

COMEBACK KIDS

The Hatfield Ice Dogs dropped the first game of their best-of-three 18U Tier II series to determine the Delaware Valley Hockey League (DVHL) representative for nationals.

Hatfield then fell behind in each of the remaining games before rallying for 3-1 wins over Warwick.

The Ice Dogs gave up just four goals in the three games at the Ice Works in Aston, Pennsylvania.

Zachary Bennett scored the last goal of the game two win then the second and third goals of the deciding game on March 13.

TIER II SERIES

The Hatfield-Warwick series was one of four on the Tier II level — three to determine spots from the DVHL and one to decide a New Jersey representative — all of which were played at the Ice Works.

The other three series were two-game sweeps.

The North Jersey Avalanche beat the Brick Hockey Club, 3-1, in the first game, then, 3-2, in overtime in the New Jersey 14U title series.

Nick Crawford scored the series-clinching overtime goal.

Hershey Bears White beat the Palmyra Black Knights, 5-1, 4-1, in the DVHL 14U series.

Drew Ianucci, in the opener, then Cade Helmer and Liam Kick, in the clincher, had two-goal games for Hershey.

Warwick Wildcats White swept Hershey Bears White, 4-1, 8-3, in the DVHL 16U series.

Matthew Stoll and Michael Klein had two goals each in the first game. Stoll and Sean Ovington each had a goal and two assists in the second game.

DELAWARE REPS

The Delaware Ducks will represent their state on the 18U, 16U and 14U levels in Tier II, where a playoff was not needed.

The Ducks went 16-4-1 to finish first in the Delaware Valley Hockey League Midget 18 AA League in the regular season. The other two teams also had winning records.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.