WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Warwick Wildcats and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights reached the national semifinals last year. They earned another shot at the Toyota-USA Hockey Youth National Championships with big efforts in decisive games Sunday during the Atlantic District Tournament at the Ice Line Quad Rinks.
Warwick features 10 players from the team that reached the 16U Tier II 3A semifinals last year in Troy, Mich. The Wildcats will be closer to home in Wayne, N.J. this year for the 18U Tier II championships.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has four players back from the team that reached the 16U Tier I semifinals last year in Pittsburgh. The Knights are back at the same level, heading to Green Bay, Wis., as repeat 16U Tier I champions from the Atlantic.
Winning Wildcats stick together
Jerry Soule, Trevor Weidman, Cole Marano, Ryan Meinke, Gregory Saklad, Sam Kroh, Mason Wilson, Tim Browne, Eric Bozzi and Mike Mason all return from Warwick’s 2013 bronze-medal team.
“A lot of these guys have been in it,” Wildcats coach Jeff Montagna said. “We have a lot of experience. They’ve played a lot of big games in their life.”
After Warwick split the first two games with York, Tim Browne made 33 saves in Sunday’s 5-1 win over York to take the best-of-three series.
“He gives us a chance to win every game,” Montagna said.
Warwick’s Brian Barker scored two goals while Marano had a goal and an assist Sunday.
Matt Iehle scored twice, including the game-winning goal, in Friday’s 6-5 overtime win for Warwick.
The Wildcats cut into a four-goal deficit in the final 8:37 Saturday, but fell short, 4-3. Tyler Gettel had two goals and an assist while Alex Smith had a goal and an assist for York in the win.
York is the only non-championship team from the district that is headed to nationals anyway as an at-large entry in the event that the district is hosting.
Knights looking for more
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights have Elijah Latimer, David Eifert, Nikita Anistratenko, Eugene Fadyeyev and coach Oleksandr Vasko back from the team that reached the Tier I 16U national semifinals last year. They were all also part of the Tier I 14U national championship squad in 2012 along with Gavin Lewis, Paul DeNaples and Michael Morrisey.
Eric DePretoro scored an unassisted goal 8:10 into the second overtime Friday to give Team Comcast a 4-3 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but the Knights bounced back to win the next two games.
Morrisey had two goals and Fadyeyev had three assists Saturday in a 5-3 win .
Fadyedev, Vladislav Dzhloshvill and Jared McCracken scored Sunday when the Knights withstood a late goal and 37 Team Comcast penalty minutes for a 3-1 victory.
Jake Hamacher had two assists and Lewis made 23 saves in the clinching win.
Junior Flyers, Team Comcast win Tier I titles
The 18U Philadelphia Junior Flyers, playing at their home rink, qualified for the Toyota-USA Hockey Tier I Youth National Championships for the 16th time by sweeping a high-scoring, best-of-three series from Team Comcast, 7-6 and 9-5.
Friday’s opener went to a second 10-minute overtime where it was decided on Ryan Brawley’s second goal of the game. Andrew Romano and Kevin Charyszyn had a goal and an assist each.
Charyszyn and Tiernan Seningan had two goals each in Saturday’s win. Eric Carreras had a goal and two assists while Andrew Romano had three assists.
Team Comcast, based in Pennsauken, N.J., won the Atlantic Tier I 14U title under coach Derian Hatcher, a two-time U.S. Olympian and a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
After winning 5-4 in overtime Friday and losing 3-2 Saturday against the Philadelphia Junior Flyers, Team Comcast broke out for an 8-2 romp Sunday behind two goals by Mattias Samuelsson.
“I thought in the first two days we played well but were a little unlucky,” said Hatcher, who became the first American-born captain of a Stanley Cup winner with the Dallas Stars in 1999. “We had a ton of chances, but we hit three posts in each game.
“When things are going the other way in this game, you never know, but the kids kept battling.”
Tyler Pohlig scored the overtime game-winner Friday and also had an assist. Gavin Gulash had two goals and Samuelsson two assists.
Tyler Gratton’s goal with 2:02 left Saturday lifted the Junior Flyers to the win.
Hurricane warning
The Hollydell Hurricanes defeated the Skylands Kings in three games in the only New Jersey Tier II title to be determined along with the district and eastern Pennsylvania championships in West Chester.
Zack Faust had two goals and two assists while J.D. George added two goals and an assist in Sunday’s 7-2 romp in the third game.
New Jersey’s other Tier II titles were decided in November. The Delaware Ducks are their state representative in all three Tier II age groups.
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
District Champions
Tier I Youth
14U: Team Comcast
16U: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights
18U: Philadelphia Junior Flyers
Tier II Youth
14U, Eastern Pennsylvania: Warwick
14U, New Jersey: Hollydell Hurricanes
14U, Delaware: Delaware Ducks
16U, Eastern Pennsylvania: Grundy
16U, New Jersey: Red Brick Generals
16U, Delaware: Delaware Ducks
18U, Eastern Pennsylvania: Warwick
18U, New Jersey: Brick Hockey Club
18U, Delaware: Delaware Ducks
18U, At Large: York
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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- As has become a familiar theme at USA Hockey's Girls 19 & Under National Championship, Shattuck-St. Mary’s again came out of its district tournament.
The Sabres also skated away with their third consecutive Nationals title on Sunday at Logitech Ice Center.
“I think that when you start any season, you set a goal,” Shattuck coach Gordon Stafford said moments after watching his team top Assabet Valley, 2-0, in Sunday’s finale. “It gives you a sense of direction for the year.”
That direction pointed Shattuck-St. Mary’s straight toward another gold medal performance, keeping the game well under control for the entire 45 minutes.
Jocelyn Lamoureux put Shattuck on the board in the opening period, taking a pass from twin sister Monique Lamoureux with 4:54 left in the period and slipping it past Assabet Valley goalie Alissa Fromkin. Monique Lamoureux, who finished second only to her sister with 13 points (nine goals, four assists, while Jocelyn had 11 goals and four assists), had been denied by Fromkin on two point-blank scoring chances earlier in the first period.
Shattuck nearly scored again in the final seconds of the period as Fromkin made two stellar saves to keep her Massachusetts District champion team in the hunt for the title.
“I thought we were controlling the game,” Stafford said. “We seemed to be getting stronger as the game went on.”
With most of the second period played in the Assabet Valley end, Shattuck again peppered the net to close out the second period. But Fromkin, again, was solid, keeping her team’s hopes alive with three saves in the final 10 seconds.
Shattuck finally punched in the insurance goal just 3:24 into the third period as Monique Lamoureux scored to give Shattuck the final 2-0 score.
“It’s wonderful to see them reach its goal like this,” Stafford said.
With 15 players set to return next year, Shattuck-St. Mary’s would appear to be favored to net its fourth straight title next year -- a goal Stafford will set for his team come September.
“We’ll just start the season [this fall] and start working together,” Stafford said, “and we’ll see how it goes.”
The defending champion’s path to Sunday’s grand conclusion began with a 3-0 run through the round robin that included a 4-2 win against Assabet Valley on Friday.
In Saturday’s quarterfinals, Shattuck topped the Connecticut Polar Bears, 5-2, but nearly saw its threepeat hopes derailed in Saturday night’s semifinal against Michigan District champion Belle Tire.
Leading 2-0 going into the third period of Saturday’s semifinal, Shattuck watched as Belle Tire scored three goals in six minutes. Only Jocelyn Lamoureux’s power play goal with less than six minutes left in regulation and another goal just seven seconds into overtime saved Shattuck from an early departure.
Assabet Valley was 1-1-1-0 in round robin play. It also had to survive an overtime scare on Saturday, clipping Team Illinois, 3-2, in extra time of Saturday’s quarterfinals, before getting a late game-winning goal in a 3-2 victory against Southeastern District champion Washington in the semifinals.
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