Tanner Henricks tallied the game-winning goal for Shattuck St.-Mary’s in a high-intensity semifinal matchup to earn the team a spot in Monday’s Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 15O National Championship.

It became apparent early in the first why these teams were playing in the semifinal round with both high-powered offense and tough, stout defense. In a rematch of last year’s 14U National Championship with most players returning for the 15O team, where Shattuck knocked off Rochester, the Saints were looking for some revenge.

Justin Dumais started the scoring off for Rochester 2:23 into the period after an awkward bounce for Shattuck in its own defensive zone. It didn’t take long, however, for Shattuck to tie things back up. Only 24 seconds passed before Ryker Lee potted the goal to notch things up at 1-1.

Play continued to go back-and-forth before Jeremy Sprung gave Shattuck the lead heading into the second period.

It was a fairly disciplined game in the first, with neither team having commit a penalty, but quickly changed in the second. Rochester committed the first of the game :45 seconds in, followed by one more to put the team down 5-on-3. Rochester gained a man but were still recovering from being down two skaters as William Zellers passed it along the far side for Tanner Henricks who put Shattuck up 3-1.

Shattuck thwarted the Rochester offense and held them team shotless until just under five minutes to play. A few Shattuck penalties ignited Rochester’s offense as Mitchell Kneidel sent one from the top of the faceoff circle to close the gap to one goal after two.

The third period was highlighted by great saves on each end, and a close call for Rochester as the puck was creeping into its goal, but a defender smacked the loose puck away to the boards. Still down 3-2, Rochester was in desperation mode with 2:22 left and pulled its goaltender. In an attempt to clear the puck, Tanner Henricks banked the puck off the glass which ricocheted at the perfect angle to go across the ice into the empty net. One more empty-netter sealed the win for Shattuck, 5-2.

Charles Pardue contributed on every goal this afternoon, including four goals and the game-winning goal, to put Chicago Mission into Monday’s Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 15O National Championship.

Neither team was able to produce a shot on net for the first four minutes as Mission was the first to break through and test the goalkeeper. Forward Pardue took the momentum throughout the first period and skated with a breakaway opportunity to net the first goal of the game with 7:50 left to go.

Mission’s defense held strong and refused a Stars shot for the first 13:00.

Mission’s strong defense didn’t change in the second which made it hard for the Stars to generate offense. However, the team’s defense and netminder Connor Addington kept the team down by just a goal midway through the period.

A Star’s offensive zone faceoff win was sent back to Guerin Slezak who ripped a shot from the blue line. Mateo Lahaie was in the slot and redirected the shot down low to tie the game up at one. Mission took advantage of a cross-checking call as time was winding down in the second, as Pardue finished off the one-timer for his second of the game.

Mission increased its lead to 3-1 at the start of the third after Jake Merens cleaned up a loose puck that was waiting in front of the crease.

Only 1:30 later, Eero Butella rang a shot off the near post, but the rebound found Pardue with an open net to complete the hat trick. Mission didn’t let up off the gas pedal as Robert Bartell got in on the action to increase his team’s lead to four.

Mission put up one more goal, this time on the power play, with help from Charles Arend and John Delaney to set up Pardue for his fourth of the game and give Chicago Mission the 6-1 win.