WEST CHESTER, Pa. – By making sure there was no duplication of its pool play meeting with the Springfield Thunderbirds (MA), Shattuck-St. Mary’s (MN) was able to repeat its Prep Division championship at the 2024 Chipotle-USA Hockey High School National Championships.
Lukas Bergman made 18 of his 21 saves over the final two periods as Shattuck-St. Mary’s held Springfield scoreless for the final 43:42 on the way to avenging a loss from just two days earlier with a 3-1 championship game victory at the Ice Line Quad Rinks.
Michael Garrett scored the game-winner at 2:09 of the second period and Michael Kotora added his tournament-leading seventh goal into an empty net with 1:37 left to clinch the win.
Before meeting in the title game, Shattuck and Springfield played the final game of the American Pool for first place in that and a better seed into Saturday’s semifinals.
The Thunderbirds won that game 3-2 despite a 28-18 shot advantage by Shattuck.
None of that mattered Sunday. Nor was it a problem when Wolfgang Zinger scored the opening goal in the title game to put Springfield ahead.
Kotora said the loss helped make sure Shattuck was at its best in the final game.
“With the mentality of going home and it being our last game of the year, I think we all gave our best,” he said. “I would say locking down on defense was a crucial part of it, but I think just overall as a team, we played better in every aspect.”
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Ian Alonso, who led all players in the tournament with six assists and shared the points lead with eight, concurred.
“Our even-strength play was just really clicking and going on all cylinders,” Alonso said.
Alonso was part of the roughly one-third of the roster which was back from a year ago.
“Defensively, we’re a lot stronger,” Alonso said. “We’re structurally sound.”
Shattuck was rewarded for that sound play. It outshot the Thunderbirds 12-4 in the first period and 29-22 for the championship game.
Marc-Alan Jr. Araujo tied the game on a Carson Curry assist with 5:26 left in the first.
Joseph Curry and Cameron Wolf worked the puck up the right wing boards and got in front for Garrett to score the game-winner.
The American Pool teams swept the two National Pool qualifiers in the semifinals Saturday.
Shattuck downed CATS Academy (MA) 4-1.
Cole Brown and Alonso scored unassisted goal to send Shattuck into the third period with a 2-0 lead, then Chase Nehring assisted on one goal and scored the other in the third.
Bergman carried a shutout and 3-0 lead into the final 14 minutes.
Springfield remained perfect for the tournament to that point when it rallied in the third period to defeat Norwich (CT) 3-2.
Jacob Petrin and Matteo Cuccovia scored 11 seconds apart in the third periodto turn the game in Springfield’s favor. Cuccovia’s game-winner was his second goal of the game.
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
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