EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Oklahoma City Oil Kings hockey program wasn’t just celebrating in East Lansing on Sunday.
The Oil Kings walked away with the USA Hockey Tier IIA 18-and-Under championship following a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Junior Hurricanes, but that wasn’t the only place you could catch Oklahoma City in action.
At the 14U level, Oklahoma City went 4-2 overall with two overtime wins. The Oil Kings beat the Utah Junior Grizzlies 5-4 in extra time in this weekend’s semifinal action at Wayne, N.J. That sent Oklahoma City to the Class A finals, where it lost 6-1 to the Idaho Junior Steelheads.
The 12U Oil Kings also had reached the Class A finals. After Oklahoma City went undefeated in pool play, it beat the Delaware Ducks 7-3 in the semifinals before losing the championship game 5-2 to the Nashville Junior Predators.
Peewee action took place in the Washington suburb of Ashburn/Reston, Va.
Other Multi-Victors
Just like Oklahoma City, two other programs present in East Lansing had teams playing in other tournaments over the weekend.
The Carolina Junior Hurricanes reached the Tier IIAA 14U playoffs at Wayne, N.J. Carolina beat Ashburn Extreme 97 5-2 in the quarterfinals and defeated the Fort Wayne Komets 3-2 in the semifinals. In the end the Affton Americans proved too strong for Carolina as the Hurricanes lost the championship game 6-3.
At Green Bay, Wis., the Chesterfield (Mo.) Falcons made it two titles in two sites on Sunday when it scored a 7-3 victory over the North Carolina Junior Checkers for the Tier II 16UAA championship. This came after a narrow 3-2 win over Ashburn Extreme in the semifinal round.
Second-Year Stars
Despite the team’s second-year status, the Dallas Oilers proved to be a potent team this weekend at the Tier II 18UAAA level.
The Oilers recorded the most victories with six and the most points in pool play with 16. They outscored opponents 26-12 in the six-game stretch.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the second-best team was the Sylvania Maple Leafs, the team that lost to Dallas 3-1 in the triple-overtime finals. Sylvania outscored its opponents 25-8 on the way to five tournament wins and an overtime loss.
Overtime Rules
Normal procedures for the tournament called for a 10-minute overtime period, followed by a shootout if both teams remained tied. That was not the case in the championship game, as the shootout format was not used and the teams battled through overtime period after period, if necessary.
Sunday’s Dallas-Sylvania final ended up lasting nearly 80 minutes in ice time, not counting intermission breaks and time to refresh the ice.
Statistics Spotlight
Top scorers at the Tier II 18UAAA level were the Oilers’ Peyton Baldillez and the Chicago Bruins’ Shawn Murphy, both of whom scored 10 points. Baldillez had four goals and six assists, while Murphy totaled three goals and seven assists.
At the AA level, A.J. Frank (Team Michiana) led the tournament with 10 points as well. Frank totaled eight goals and two assists on the way to the scoring title.
At A, Oklahoma City’s Michael Kohler had nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) to lead a 1-2-3 block of Oil Kings players. Behind Kohler were Anthony Stancampiano (5-3--8) and Ben Dillman (2-6—8). The duo tied with the Junior Hurricanes’ Brandon Stanley, who also had two goals and six assists for eight points.
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.