The Chicago Fury used its ability to pull out wins in tight games to become the only 18U Tier 1 team from the six-state Central District to land a spot at the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships.

The Fury repeated as Illinois state champions, then earned a trip to the March 31-April 4 nationals in San Jose by sweeping three games at the Central District’s Kohlman Cup championships in Nebraska in March.

After winning the Elite Hockey League’s 18U Chicago Division with a 22-9-1 record, the Fury heads to nationals on a nine-game winning streak in which the two largest wins were by four goals each.

The Fury (39-15-3 overall) beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1, the Milwaukee Junior Admirals 4-2 and Omaha Hockey Club 5-2 to finish 3-0 in the round-robin district event.

Team captain Michael Zuffante leads the Fury into nationals.

Zuffante led the team in scoring during the 32-game EHL schedule with 14 goals and 46 assists. He earned two games with the Minnesota Wilderness in the North American Hockey League during the season and produced a goal and assist during that time.

Jeffrey Losurdo had a team-high 29 goals in league play and ranked second in points with 48. Colin Swoyer led the team’s defensemen in scoring with 12 goals and 28 assists.

Team Wisconsin Wins 16U At-Large Bid

Team Wisconsin, the 2014 national champion, was awarded an at-large bid and will join district champion Chicago Mission in representing the Central at nationals.

The 16U tournament is also in San Jose.

Team Wisconsin is 0-3 against the Mission, including a 3-2 loss at the district tournament, but 24-5-2 against the rest of a demanding independent schedule. It went 1-1-1 against defending national champion Shattuck-St. Mary’s School.

Ohio State commit Brock Caufield is one of five players with at least 30 points.

Jordan Steinmetz leads the way with 21 goals and 45 points in 40 games.

Defenseman Ty Emberson leads the team with 31 assists and is second with 35 points.

Aaron Grounds and Caufield have 31 points while Ian Malcolmson has 30.

Teams From Four States to Represent 16U and 18U Tier II

The Affton Americans from Missouri are 29-6-5 and headed to Amherst, New York as the only Central District 18U Tier II representative in the field.

The Tier II tournaments are also scheduled for March 31-April 4.

Teams from three different states will represent the district in the 16U Tier II tournament in Wayne, New Jersey.

Team Wisconsin went 10-4-2 against a fall schedule. The Chicago Blues won the Illinois title. Team Nebraska comes in with just a 2-19 record.

Missouri Champs Chesterfield Falcons Highlight 14U Tier II Field

There will also be three states from the Central represented at nationals in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Chesterfield Falcons, who won the Missouri title, and the Highland Park Falcons, who won the Illinois state title, finished in two of the top three spots among 12 14U teams that played in the Central States Developmental Hockey League and each won more than 40 games overall.

Chesterfield won the regular-season CSDHL title.

Highland Park heads to nationals on a five-game winning streak in which it has allowed just four goals.

The Kansas City Mavs will represent Kansas.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.