USA Hockey Nationals are the final hockey event on the U14-U18 schedule before players tend to trade in their hockey sticks for lacrosse poles, baseball gloves and/or general relaxation.
The 18U Boston Junior Eagles and 14U Mount St. Charles squad made their respective national championship, but both fell short.
At the 18U level, Shattuck-St. Mary's won the national championship, while sixth-seeded Okanagan Hockey (Colorado) captured a national championship for the 16Us. Shattuck won a title at the 15O level and Little Caesars snagged the 14U national championship.
Still, there were some big performances by locals across the 18U, 16U, 15O and 14U levels.
Let's dive in.
18U
Locally, the 18U tournament was the one to watch.
The Boston Junior Eagles had a string of impressive wins, taking down Team Maryland (8-5), Yale Junior Bulldogs (6-5), Buffalo Junior Sabres (7-0), No. 1 Culver (5-2) and Northern CT Nor'Easter (3-2) en route to the national title game, where they fell to Shattuck, 5-3.
Northeastern commit Owen McHale (Charlestown, Mass.) exploded for five goals and 11 points in six games, while Brown commit Billy MacAusland (Westwood, Mass.) and forward Brendan Matthews (Boston, Mass.) each had eight points. Dartmouth commit Evan Jones (Arlington, Mass.) and Northeastern commit Noah Survilas (Winthrop, Mass.) both had seven points, while forward Matthew Carolan (Stow, Mass.) posted six.
The Northern CT Nor'Easter fell just short of the national championship game, falling to the Jr. Eagles in the semis. Up until then, the Nor'Easter beat Philadelphia Junior Flyers (2-1), Shattuck (2-1), Fox Motors (6-4) and St. Louis Blues (4-3).
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They were a bit lower-scoring than the Junior Eagles. Avon Old Farms forward Nico Ciardiello (Guilford, Conn.) led the team with three goals and five points, while Millbrook forward Sam Gero and Deerfield defenseman Nate Watson both had four points. Avon forward Jacob Jett had three goals.
The story was Brown commit Elliot Lennon in net, who posted a sparkling 2.32 GAA and a .931 save percentage in all five games.
The Yale Junior Bulldogs had a good run, going 3-2-0 with wins over the Buffalo Jr. Sabres, Team Maryland and the River Rats. Yale commit Greg Najda exploded for 12 points, while Cornell commit Jack Broderick and Harvard commit JT Rothstein put up huge weeks with eight points each. Forwards Lucas Husted-Edwards, Domenico Clarizio and Michael Dossier all had a point per game or more.
One of the big early stories was the River Rats upsetting No. 1 Culver, 6-5, in their second game. The Rats also took down Team Alaska and Mid Fairfield, but fell to the Junior Bulldogs. Dartmouth commit Will Manchuso (Concord, Mass.) led the tournament in points per game at 2.5. Forwards Max Donatelli (Barrington, R.I.), Cam MacPherson (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Ethan Travis (Narragansett, R.I.) all had seven points apiece. Forward Andrew Martin (Wakefield, Mass.) had five points and defender Tommy Browne had four. Goalie Cody Hew posted a 2.00 GAA and a .927 save percentage in two of the four games.
Mid Fairfield didn't make the playoff round after losing to Culver (7-3) and the River Rats. Its lone win was over Team Alaska.
16U
Woodbridge Wolfpack defenseman Jacoby Palmer (Holden, Mass.) was the big local story for the 16Us, tying for third among all players with eight points. Rockland, Mass., native Isaac Davis also had a big tournament for Woodbridge with six points in five games.
Neither the Junior Eagles nor the Providence Capitals made the championship bracket. The Junior Eagles lost to Dallas Stars Elite and Chicago Reapers, but beat the Anaheim Junior Ducks. Forward Danny Patch (Melrose, Mass.) led the Eagles with four goals and five points.
The Capitals fell to Shattuck-St. Mary's, Honeybaked and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Knights. Forward Anthony Brunetti (Lewiston, Maine) led the team in goals (three) and points (five), while Providence College commit Caiden Pellegrino (Uxbridge, Mass.) had three points.
15O
Minuteman Flames and Mount St. Charles were the two squads that got the furthest in the 15O field, and they both fell in the first round of the championship bracket.
The Flames won all three of their preliminary games, taking down the LA Junior Kings (3-2), the Woodbridge Wolfpack (3-2) and Fox Motors (5-2). But the Flames dropped their first-round game to Saints Hockey Club and were bounced from the tournament. Forwards Sam Lee (Woburn, Mass.) and Austin Wu (Dedham, Mass.) led the team with four points each, while goalies Jaxson Fleming (Waltham, Mass.) and Will Torres (Framingham, Mass.) both had strong showings.
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Mount took down Little Caesars (7-3) and Dallas Stars Elite (6-4) to begin the tournament, but fell to Chicago Mission (6-3) in the final preliminary game. Honeybaked knocked Mount out of the tournament in the first round with a 5-2 win.
Forward MJ Campbell went off for seven goals and 12 points in only four games, ranking second among all 15O players and ranking first in points per game. Forwards Wilson Boumedienne and Mason Bricker both had six points, while defenseman Mason Stonacek did, too. Forwards Cruise Armstrong and Zaac Charbonneau both had five points, while forward Thomas Boisvert had four.
The River Rats took down Sioux Falls Power (7-1) to open their tournament, but didn't make it out of preliminaries after losing to Honeybaked (5-3) and Buffalo Junior Sabres (3-2). Forward Jake Guerriero (Braintree, Mass.) led the team in goals (three) and points (five), while forwards Lochlan Horsman and Drew Short (Lunenburg, Mass.) each tallied four points. Forwards Nicholas Trupiano (Burlington, Mass.) and Colin Walsh (Framingham, Mass.) both had three.
14U
Mount got oh-so-close to winning a national title, falling to Little Caesars, 5-4, in the final. Mount was dominant in the lead-up to the championship, taking down the Ohio Blue Jackets (6-3), Saints Hockey Club (4-2), Palmyra Black Knights (6-3), Chicago Mission (4-1) and Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (5-2).
Forward Jack Cross finished tied for the most points among all 14U players with 11, and forward Arjun Mangadu led the tournament with eight goals. Forwards Robert McCann (Worcester, Mass.) and Gavin Thomas both had seven points, while star defenseman Sam Archibald (Canton, Mass.) had four goals and six points. In net, Evan Ladd got four of the six games, posting a 2.32 GAA and a .926 save percentage.
The Junior Eagles made the championship bracket but got crushed in the first round, 9-0, by Shattuck. The Eagles fell to Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (4-2) in their first game, but bounced back to take down Team North Dakota (10-1) and then Dallas Stars Elite (4-3).
Forward Max Prudovsky (Boston, Mass.) exploded for five goals and nine points, leading all players in points per game at 2.25. Forward Peter Lyden (Stamford, Conn.) wasn't far behind with seven assists and eight points. Forward Carter Watson (Brockton, Mass.) also had a big tournament with four goals and seven points. Forward Lucas Sposito (Hartford, Conn.) had four points in four games.
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Islanders Hockey Club East didn't make the championship bracket after losing to Florida Alliance (4-3) and Oakland Junior Grizzlies (3-2). The lone win, however, came over No. 2 Shattuck, 3-2. Unsurprisingly, forward Chris Welby (Westwood, Mass.) led the team with four points.
