Sparty Party

Seacoast Ready For The Holiday Season At Champions League

Between Christmas, New Year’s celebrations and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championships, it’s both a busy and exciting time of year for hockey families. On top of all that, the Seacoast Performance Academy will also be in Coral Springs, Florida, this holiday season to compete at the first annual Champions League hockey tournament; the first world championship ever in youth hockey.

It’s certainly a balancing act, managing time with the family in celebration of the holidays while also taking advantage of winter break to play in an elite hockey event. The players, families and coaches are willing to accept the challenge for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Champions League next week.

“Our coaching staff here at Seacoast Performance Academy are all very excited and eager to participate in this year’s Champions League event,” said head coach Peter Ferraro. “We look forward to playing at a world-class venue against some of the world’s best competition and wish good luck to all the teams.”

The Spartans will make history at the event on Dec. 28th, when they take the ice for the very first game of the tournament. They’ll share the ice with Järved IF from Sweden, and then go on to play two teams from Finland — Kiekko Espoo and Kiekko Blues — the next day. After three straight games against Scandinavian opponents, Seacoast will play fellow U.S. teams Windy City Storm and Yale Jr. Bulldogs. Both of those teams rank among the top 20 in the country, and will present the two toughest challenges SPA has faced all season.

Seacoast is 28-8-5 this season, and enters the tournament on a 10-1-1 run in its past 12 outings. The offense averages 5.3 goals per game; a mark they’ve hit 24 times in the first four months of the season.

Tyler Callander, Benjamin Clary and Danick St. Pierre are a trio of towering forwards at 5-foot-10, 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10 respectively. After that is a slew of speedy skaters in Blake Cash, Hunter Chadbourne, Evan Ferraro, Jameson Glance, Russell Kelleran, Sully Martin and Garrit Turcotte. Be prepared for a track meet with this group, as they aren’t shy to get up and down the ice in a hurry. They’re comfortable in high-scoring games, with 22 of the team’s wins coming in games with six or more total goals scored.

The back end is littered with lefties like Easton Genest, Matthew MacInnis, Jacoby Oliveira and Gavin Wakeland. Cameron Clark and Levi Kossatz balance out the group a bit and play in front of a tandem that is eerily similar to one another, with Tristin Leck and Kamden Jackson sharing goaltending duties.

One could argue that the five round-robin games at Champions League will be the five most challenging games that Seacoast plays all season. How will they fare? Follow World Hockey Hub on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube for continued coverage of the tournament, upcoming features, highlights and recaps, and so much more!