Each of our Week 15 Games of the Week came from a variety of tournaments being held last weekend in various locations and featuring some of the top Tier 1 boys, prep and Tier 2 girls teams in the United States and Canada.

Our first stop was at the GameSheet Prep Cup in Massachusetts, an eight-team event that included some of the top New England Prep School boys’ teams as well highly ranked USA Independent Prep teams and very strong 18U Tier 1 clubs. Also joining the field was St. Andrew’s College from Ontario, Canada’s top-ranked Independent Prep team.

Teams played one game per day on the campus of Merrimack College, with the winners advancing to play other winners and losing teams taking on other teams that lost until a champion was determined. This year’s GameSheet Prep Cup field included the teams listed below playing against each other during Friday’s opening day of competition. Culver Academy, our third-ranked Tier 1 USA Boys National Bound team, ended up going 3-0-0 to win the tournament championship.

 

10:00 a.m. at Gallant Arena – Northwood School vs. Dexter-Southfield School

Northwood is the No. 14 overall USA 18U Boys team and No. 4 in the Independent Prep rankings. Dexter-Southfield is No. 15 in the MHR New England Prep rankings. Dexter won this game, 6-0, with Mick Frechette netting a pair of goals and Max Gatti making 32 saves to earn the shutout.

 

12:00 p.m. at Lawler Arena – Nichols School vs. St. Andrew’s College (Canada)

Nichols (N.Y.) is the No. 11 USA Independent Prep team, while St. Andrew’s is the top-ranked Canadian Independent Prep team. St. Andrew’s skated to a 6-1 victory in this contest, with Jack Pridham tallying twice and Daniel Salmivuori making 8 saves as St. Andrew’s piled up a 62-9 shots advantage.

 

12:30 p.m. at Gallant Arena – Kimball Union Academy vs. Culver Academy

Kimball Union is ranked sixth among New England Prep teams. Culver is the third-ranked USA Boys Tier 1 National Bound team and the No. 3 USA Independent Prep team. This was a 5-4 barnburner, with Culver potting the game-winning goal with just 2:21 left in the third period. Jacob Padgett netted the game-winner, while Philippe Lalonde tallied twice for Culver.

 

Featured Game:

2:30 p.m. at Lawler Arena – The Frederick Gunn School vs. Mount St. Charles

The Gunn School is the No. 2 New England Prep Team, while Mount St. Charles is the second-ranked USA Boys Tier 1 National Bound team. A full write-up can be found with the other featured games below. Gunn won this matchup, 5-3.

After the opening-round games, St. Andrew’s and Culver went on to win their respective semifinal contests, with Culver defeating the Saints, 4-3, in a shootout to capture the tournament championship. Six different players scored in regulation time in the finals, with Benjamin Barrett and Kayson Un Yi scoring for Culver in the shootout to secure the victory.

CLICK HERE for the complete schedule, standings and results.

 

The Port Huron International Silver Stick Finals for the 2008 and 2010 age groups also were held last weekend in Michigan and provided two of our Week 15 Games of the Week. We highlighted one game from each age group at a tournament that included some of the top AAA, AA and A teams in the U.S. and Canada.

The Port Huron 2010 Silver Stick Finals featured a stacked field of 24 highly ranked Ontario and American AAA teams. Teams were placed in six four-team pools, with each one playing four preliminary-round games to determine who advanced to the quarterfinals. In the 2010 AAA division, all 12 teams from the United States were ranked among the top 36, with four top-10 teams represented. Ontario’s teams ranged from Nos. 1 through No. 27, with four teams ranked among the province’s top 10.

Our Game of the Week from the 2010 division was a border battle bright and early Saturday morning between USA No. 9 Honeybaked and Ontario’s fifth-ranked Markham Majors. Honeybaked came out on top in that one, 5-4, but the No. 3 Chicago Mission went on to defeat No. 4 Little Caesars, 4-2, in the championship game.  

Although not quite as strong as the 2010 division, the Port Huron 2008 AAA group also included many highly ranked American and Ontario-based teams. There were 32 teams spread out among eight pools at the 2008 level, with each of those teams also playing four preliminary-round contests to narrow the field to eight quarterfinalists.

Our 2008 Game of the Week from Port Huron was a Saturday afternoon tilt between Ontario’s No. 9 Toronto Marlboros and USA’s No. 10 Pittsburgh Vengeance, with the Marlies coming out on top, 5-3. Toronto went on to advance to the finals before falling to the USA’s third-rankied Chicago Mission, 7-3.

Port Huron Silver Stick schedules, results and standings can be found by CLICKING HERE. All games still can be seen on-demand via LiveBarn.

 

Our final Game of the Week came from the National Girls Hockey League (NGHL) 12U Red Division Futures East Winter Classic in New Jersey. The NGHL is a growing league that provides opportunities for Tier 1 and Tier 2 girls teams from around the United States to compete in showcase-style tournaments in various locations while also playing in a league format and competing for a championship. The Futures Division includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams from the 10U and 12U age groups.

Our NGHL Game of the Week featured a pair of top-20 Tier 2 teams facing off Saturday in the 12U division as No. 13 Philadelphia Little Flyers Black took on the the No. 17 Carolina Jr. Hurricanes and came out on top, 4-1. The 12U Red Division included the Nos. 30, 32, 47 and 53 Tier 1 teams as well as the Nos. 8, 13, 17 and 24 Tier 2 teams. The Little Flyers went on to advance to the tournament finals before falling to Tier 1 No. 32 Boston Advantage, 2-0.

CLICK HERE for the NGHL tournament schedule and results. All NGHL Winter Classic games can be viewed on-demand via LiveBarn.

 

Week 14 MHR/LiveBarn Featured Games of the Week  

#2 (NE Prep) Frederick Gunn School (5), #2 (T1 National Bound) Mount St. Charles (3)

Level: USA Boys Prep/18U

Date: Friday, January 6

Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

Location: Lawler Arena at Merrimack College – North Andover, Mass.

Event: GameSheet Prep Cup

Stream: LiveBarn (pending venue being open for broadcast)

The closing game of the Prep Cup’s opening day was one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the entire tournament as the Gunn School, ranked second in MHR’s New England Prep rankings, faced perennial 18U Tier 1 national-championship contender Mount St. Charles. In this one, Gunn broke a 3-3 tie after two periods on Marko Goich’s unassisted goal with 16:47 left and closed out the 5-3 victory on Mike Markowski’s second of the game with 24 seconds remaining. Jacob Rothman also scored twice for Gunn, with Ryan Crowshaw making 32 saves to earn the win in goal. Patrick Murphy, Samuel Carosello and Anthony Cardilli scored for Mount St. Charles. The Gunn School fell to eventual-champion Culver Academy, 3-0, in the semifinals before finishing the tournament with a 2-2 tie against Dexter. Mount St. Charles knocked off Kimball Union in its second game of the weekend before falling to Northwood School, 7-3, after taking a 2-1 lead through one period. After the weekend Gunn’s record stood at 11-3-1. MSC concluded the tournament at 26-7-2. Tournament-champion Culver Academy improved to 17-6-0 with its three wins. Culver is ranked third in the MHR USA Boys 18U Tier 1 National Bound rankings but is looking to put the heat on No. 2 Mount St. Charles.

 

#9 (US) Honeybaked (5), #5 (Ontario) Markham Majors (4)

Level: Canada/USA Boys 2010 AAA

Date: Saturday, December 7

Time: 7:00 a.m. ET

Location: Glacier Pointe Ice Complex – Port Huron, Mich.

Event: International Silver Stick Finals

Stream: LiveBarn

Markham entered the Port Huron Silver Stick finals with a record of 29-8-1 before going 4-2-0 and eventually falling in the semifinals to USA No. 4 Little Caesars, 4-3. The Majors opened the tournament with victories over the USA’s fifth-ranked Chicago Reapers (5-4) and No. 25 New Jersey Rockets (4-2) to set up showdowns with Ontario’s No. 4 London Jr. Knights and USA No. 9 Honeybaked. Markham beat the Knights, 4-2, before falling in our featured game, 5-4, vs. Honeybaked, which also went 3-1 in pool play to ensure that both teams would advance to the quarterfinals. Honeybaked brought a 28-13-5 record into the tournament before splitting its first two games against Ontario’s No. 6 Toronto Marlboros and London. HB fell to the Marlies, 5-2, before hammering London, 7-0. HB also beat the Rockets, 8-2, before posting the one-goal victory over Markham and falling to Ontario’s top-ranked Toronto Jr. Canadiens, 5-2, in the quarterfinals.

 

#9 (Ontario) Toronto Marlboros (5), #10 (USA) Pittsburgh Vengeance (3)

Level: Canada/USA Boys 2008 AAA

Date: Saturday, December 7

Time: 12:30 p.m. ET

Location: Suburban Ice – Macomb, Mich.  

Event: International Silver Stick Finals

Stream: LiveBarn

The Marlboros opened play at the Port Huron Silver Stick finals with a 3-1 win over the USA’s No. 50 Madison Capitols to improve to 21-12-2 on the season. From there they went on to post a 3-1-0 record in pool play by falling to USA’s 27^th-ranked Sioux Falls Power, 3-2, before shutting out the No. 8 USA Tier 2 Traverse City Northstars, 8-0, and winning our featured game against the Vengeance, 5-3. Pittsburgh began play in Port Huron by falling to the USA’s No. 12 Windy City Storm, 4-3, before also beating the Northstars, 7-2, and knocking off Sioux Falls, 2-1. The loss to the Marlboros left the Vengeance at 2-2-0 for the tournament and prevented them from advancing to the quarterfinals. Their record for the season stands at 25-17-2. The Marlboros, meanwhile, did advance to the quarterfinals where they beat the Ontario No. 35 Huron-Perth Lakers, 5-2, before dropping a 7-3 decision in the semifinals against USA’s third-ranked Chicago Mission.

 

#13 Little Flyers Black (4), #17 Carolina Jr. Hurricanes (1)

Level: USA Girls 12U Tier 2

Date: Saturday, December 7

Time: 2:20 p.m. ET

Location: ProSkate Arena – Monmouth Junction, N.J.  

Event: International Silver Stick Finals

Stream: LiveBarn

Play began early Friday at the NGHL Winter Classic, and the Little Flyers sprinted out of the gates with a pair of victories to improve to 27-13-3 on the year. They beat the No. 24 Tier 2 Montgomery Ice Devils, 3-0, and Tier 1 Lovell Winter Club, 4-0. Seven different players scored for the Little Flyers in Friday’s wins: Jessa Hay, Viviana Serpentine, Kayleigh Boland, Chloe Quigley, Alana Bellan, Alexis Marzzacco and Lena Tiernan. In their final tournament game before facing Carolina in our featured matchup, the Little Flyers beat the Tier 1 No. 30 Syracuse Valley Eagles, 2-1, in a shootout thanks to a regulation-time goal by by Bellan and shootout tallies by Tiernan and Hay. Riley McIntosh stopped two of the three shooters she faced in the shootout to earn the victory. The Jr. Canes opened play at the Winter Classic with a 5-1 victory over Lovell Winter Club with five different players scoring. Chloe Feliciano, Lexi Durant, Margaux Ponzi, Elena Danilina and Aleeya Hamner each tallied for Carolina in the victory, which improved their record to 12-10-2 on the season. In their second outing Friday vs. Syracuse Valley, the Jr. Canes fell by a 2-1 score after taking an early 1-0 lead on Riley Smith’s goal. They also fell to the No. 32 Tier 1 Boston Advantage, who would go on to win the championship, 4-0 before dropping our Game of the Week matchup to the Little Flyers, 4-1. Philadelphia jumped to a 3-0 lead after the first period in that contest on goals by Serpentine, Quickly and Boland. Feliciano cut the margin to 3-1 in the second before Stella Daliessio put the game away for the Little Flyers with a goal in the final frame to make a winner of goalie Sabrina Secules. The Jr. Canes ended their tournament with a 3-1 loss to No. 47 Tier 1 Ironbound and concluded the event with an overall record of 12-14-2. Philadelphia went on to beat the No. 8 Tier 2 Princeton Tiger Lillies, 2-1, in a semifinal shootout, before falling to the Advantage, 2-0, in the championship game. The Little Flyers are now 30-14-3.