CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. – There is a motto at Shattuck-St. Mary’s that encourages its students and hockey players to “Leave it better than you found it,” and the Shattuck-St. Mary’s Youth Tier I 18U program has certainly left a legacy.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Boston Jr. Eagles (MA) Sunday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex to win the 2025 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 18U National Championship as the program’s depth and balance proved dominant all week long in the Keystone State.

Eleven different players recorded at least one point in the title game, including seven different goal scorers, to lead Shattuck-St. Mary’s to its third consecutive Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 18U National Championship.

“It says that our kids are driven to be competitively good,” said Tom Ward, head coach of Shattuck-St. Mary’s. “They are not a bunch of giant ego-driven guys, but they believe in themselves. These guys really wanted to be a part of leaving their legacy.  

It's a big deal at our school to win a national championship. It's big because we make a big deal about it. There's a lot of names on walls around our rink, guys like Sidney (Crosby), that moved on to really good things in our game and they want to be a part of it. They want to leave something to come back and look at that picture with their grandkids and say, ‘I did this when I was a young boy.’ Those are cool memories and they just made one today.”

Coincidentally, it was local product Quinn McKenzie getting Shattuck-St. Mary’s rolling Sunday morning. McKenzie was left alone in front of the Boston net when he corralled a feed from Kyle Heger to put Shattuck in front only 3:54 into the game.

McKenzie, who is from North Potomac, Maryland, spent the previous four seasons developing with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite and played countless games inside the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex before joining Shattuck-St. Mary’s this season.

It was a memorable homecoming, McKenzie said.

“This is my first national title, and it is amazing to have my whole family here,” McKenzie said. “It’s a reunion and my first time back on these sheets. It was just surreal walking through this rink with all my new boys and my old boys cheering me on. Ten to 15 of my best friends who I still keep in touch with came out this week to cheer me on.”

Goaltender Jackson Silverberg, Nolan Caffey and Dylan Lebret were the only three returning players from last year’s championship team.

Silverberg was strong Sunday morning; notching 21 saves for the win and Caffey (1G, 2A) was one of four players to have three points in the game.   

Silverberg made one of his best saves early to keep Boston off the board during a first period penalty kill when he stonewalled Rian Chudzinski from directly in front midway through the period to keep Shattuck in front 1-0.

“Oh, it's really special,” Silverberg said. I’ve been waiting for this ever since last year. Our motto is, ‘Leave it better than you found it,’ so I think we left it better than we found it.”

Graham Jones then made it 2-0 when he cashed in on a breakaway with 7:11 to go in the period after he was cut loose on a pass from Caffey.

Jonathan Brown helped Shattuck-St. Mary’s strike only 1:15 into the second when he ripped one past Jason Thibodeaux off a cross-ice pass from Roberts Naudins to make it 3-0.

The teams exchanged power-play goals late in the second period. First, Luke Puchner extended the lead to 4-0 with 5:10 remaining in the period for Shattuck-St. Mary’s. Boston then responded less than a minute later as Billy MacAusland found the back of the net to cut the deficit back to 4-1.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s depth and legs took over in the third period. Noah Davidson extended the lead to 5-1 just 1:06 into the third period. Puchner recorded his second of the game with 12:55 to go on the power play and Caffey made it 7-1 with 6:19 to go. Gavin Katz picked up Shattuck-St. Mary’s final tally with 4:18 to go. 

Alexander Donovan assisted on both Puchner and Caffey’s goals, and the senior admitted to finally receive a Chipotle-USA Hockey championship medal was an emotional moment on the ice for him and some of his teammates.

Most of the team had never won a USA Hockey national title, and many experienced heartbreaks in recent seasons.

“It took four years, two national championship game losses – one in overtime – and one quarterfinal exit last year, so this one means something,” Donovan said. “We've got a variety of guys, all different ages and from different states and countries. Everybody came together. It's been a long, hard-fought year, so I'm just so proud of everybody.”

Shattuck-St. Mary’s was a dominant 6-0 in Cranberry Township thanks to its overall depth and stout goaltending from Silverberg and Xavier Wendt. Fourteen of the team’s 20 skaters recorded at least one goal and Shattuck finished the tournament with a +30-goal differential.

Outside of a 2-1 overtime victory over the Northern CT Nor’easters in the quarterfinals, Shattuck was rarely tested by its opponents. Shattuck-St. Mary’s advanced to the championship game with 6-0 victory over the Ohio Blue Jackets.

Ward made sure to have his entire senior class come grab the gold championship plate following the game.

“These guys have had some heartbreak here at the this before, and we do have a good group of guys,” Ward concluded. “They're hard-working kids, their diligent and they train. They care about the, the tradition of our school. It's a good way to end it for those seniors moving on. Two-thirds of our team have never won one, and the guys that never won were the guys who deserved to win one.”