MHR Play of the Year: First Round is in the Books!
Updated July 27 at 10:03 a.m. EDT
And just like that, Round 1 is in the books!
It took nearly a month but the public has spoken, and the original field of 32 in our third annual Play of the Year contest has been narrowed to 16. Round 2 voting begins on Monday, July 14, and runs through July 24.
Of the final 16 plays, eight are goalie plays or saves, eight are great goals, 11 are plays made by boys, five are by girls, nine were sent in from the United States and seven were sent in from Canada.
Based on the early returns, Oliver Bjork of Stillwater (Minn.) Peewees, Joseph Cullen of Minnestoa Blue Ox 14U and Cohen Paul of Mount Academy U17 appear to be the frontrunners. Each of them won his opening-round matchup by earning 75 percent or more of the votes.
Bjork's "goalie goal" was the top vote-getter at 88 percent. Cullen's national-championship overtime game-winning goal and Paul's high-speed defense-splitting leaping score each got 75 percent of the vote in their matchups. Whlle there are no actual seedings for the contest, Bjork was placed in the tradional No. 1 seed's spot in the bracket.
Second-round voting begins Monday on the MYHockeyRankings Instagram story and features Bjork taking on Mikayla Barnes of Stoney Creed Sabres U22 and her between-the-legs top-shelf shot.
Vidoes of all the plays are posted on the MHR Twitter/X and Facebook pages, but voting only takes place on the MHR Instagram story and lasts exactly 24 hours. There have been more than 400,000 views of Instagram posts related to the Play of the Year contest since it began almost a month ago.
The third MYHockey Rankings Play of the Year Contest features players who have executed amazing plays that either were submitted or uncovered throughout the 2024-25 season competing to see which one comes out on top. Play of the Year first-round voting began Monday, June 16, and ran through July 10. The full contest tentatively is scheduled to conclude Aug. 12, a few days before MHR begins accepting scores for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
The contest features a 32-play bracket, with the voting for each new round always starting on a Monday or Tuesday. There will be no votes that begin on Fridays or weekends.
The updated bracket can be viewed at the top of this article. The upcoming schedule and past results are listed below.
Round 1 Matchups
June 16
Oliver Bjork/Stillwater Peewee (88%)
def.
Lily Dowd – Bentley Bahr/Menomonie Squirt (12%)
June 17
Mikayla Barnes/Stoney Creek Sabres U22 (52%)
def.
Kayla McCarthy/Pens Elite 16U (48%)
June 18
Joseph Cullen/Minnesota Blue Ox 14U (79%)
def.
Connor Wilson/Pens Elite 2015 (21%)
June 19
Elias Mitrikas/North Shore Warriors U15 (51%)
def.
Carson Paule – Kayden Brown/Dallas Stars 2013 (49%)
June 23
Liam Hilliard/Cincinnati Cyclones 12U (51%)
def.
Peter Sheehan/Boston Americans 2013 (49%)
June 24
Nolan Deady/Indy Jr. Fuel 14U (64%)
def.
Brayden McGrath/Hamilton Steel U13 (36%)
June 25
Ryker Doka/Delta Hockey Academy U15 (64%)
def,
Riley Wivholm – Jordana Grand/Florida Alliance 12U (36%)
June 26
Paige Fox – Teagan Gloyns – Nancy Wang/North York Storm U15 (60%)
def.
Ellis Nicholson/Toledo Cherokee 2012 (40%)
June 30
Brook Adams/Mount Academy U19 (57%)
def.
Addison Adomaitis/North York Storm U15 (43%)
July 1
Lucas Fargino/Buffalo Regals 16U (60%)
def.
Lucas Shibalov Rocky Mountain RoughRiders 13O (40%)
July 2
Keagan Gray/Boston Jr. Eagles 14U (62%)
def.
Aiden Pournaras/Keystone Wild 18U (38%)
July 3
Lily Hurley/Arizona Kachinas 16U (64%)
def.
Donny Redmon/Chicago Phantoms 14U (35%)
July 7
Cameron Kimmerly/Wenatchee Wild 18U (57%)
def.
Caden McMahon – Max Ellenbogen/Rye Rangers 14U (43%)
July 8
Owen Elgbacka/Guelph Gryphons U15 (60%)
def.
Dax Orenstein – Brighton Anderson/Bishop Kearney Selects 15O (40%)
July 9
Cohen Paul/Mount Academy U17 (75%)
def.
Maddie Kaiser – Madeline McKay/Balmoral Hall U18 (25%)
July 10
Brody Houston/Pens Elite 2015 (63%)
def.
Maddyx Chaput – Alex Forrest/Oakville Rangers U16 (37%)
Round 2 Matchups
July 14
Mikayla Barnes/Stoney Creek Sabres U22 (54%)
def.
Oliver Bjork/Stillwater Peewees (46%)
July 15
Joseph Cullen/Minnesota Blue Ox 14U (66%)
def. Elias Mitrikas/North Shore Warriors U15 (34%)
July 17
Paige Fox – Teagan Gloyns – Nancy Wang/North York Storm U15 (67%)
def.
Ryker Doka/Delta Hockey Academy U15 (33%)
July 21 (RESCHEDULED)
Liam Hilliard/Cincinnati Cyclones 12U (68%)
def.
Nolan Deady/Indianpolis Jr. Fuel 14U (32%)
July 22 (NEW DATE)
Lucas Fargino/Buffalo Regals 16U (63%)
def.
Brook Adams/Mount Academy U19 (37%)
July 23 (NEW DATE)
Lily Hurley/Arizona Kachinas 16U (51%)
def.
Keegan Gray/Boston Jr. Eagles 14U (49%)
July 24 (NEW DATE)
Brody Houston/Pens Elite 2015 (53%)
def,
Cohen Paul/Mount Academy U17 (47%)
July 25 (NEW DATE)
Owen Elgbacka/Guelph Gryphons U15 (53%)
def.
Cameron Kimmerly/Wenatchee Wild 18U (47%)
Great 8 Matchups
July 28 – 31
Semifinal Matchups
Aug. 5-6
Finals
August 12
CLICK HERE to find out how last year’s contest went.
