The Western Hockey League (WHL) conducted its annual 2023 Prospect and Priority Selections this week. Member clubs selected youth hockey prospects from the 2008 birth year through the league’s draft process. Players eligible to be selected in the U.S. Priority Draft must be American-born and reside in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Those eligible for the Prospect draft must be Canadian-born and live in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Yukon or the above listed American states.
The WHL is the only junior league in North America to conduct its draft proceedings prior to the player’s U16 youth hockey season. Prospects selected in the WHL Draft are eligible to play 10 regular-season games the following Fall, but will return to their respective youth hockey clubs for the rest of their upcoming U16 season. In short, even after being selected in the WHL Draft, players are still roughly 16 months away from being a full-time, rostered player in the junior league.
Defenseman Daxon Rudolph’s year to remember continued when the Prince Albert Raiders chose him with the first overall pick in the Prospect Draft. The Lacombe, Alberta, native turned heads this season with 50 points in 30 games. He helped lead No. 4 Northern Alberta Xtreme to the U15 Prep Division Championship when he tallied the overtime winner. Rudolph was also honored as the Canadian Sports School Hockey League (CSSHL) U15 Defenseman of the Year. Joining him were 10 other players from NAX, including five selections in the first 39 picks.
🗣️ Hear from Daxon Rudolph, the first-overall selection of @PARaidersHockey in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft. #WHLDraft pic.twitter.com/WFaLw6wHww
— The WHL (@TheWHL) May 12, 2023
After Rudolph, the Raiders shored up the front end of their lineup with two other selections in the Top 10. They chose center Riley Boychuck from Airdrie Xtreme at No. 2 and winger Ty Meunier from the St. Albert Sabres with the seventh overall pick. Darius Hordal joined his Xtreme teammates when the Raiders selected him in the eighth round.
No. 15 RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna had three players taken in the first 20 spots. Keaton Verhoff was the second defenseman taken when the Victoria Royals selected him fourth overall. Joe Iginla went to the Edmonton Oil Kings at No. 12, and Giorgos Panteras at No. 19 to the Brandon Wheat Kings. Kelowna went on to have seven other skaters taken throughout the remaining rounds.
As the Prospects Draft went on, more and more players hailing from CSSHL clubs continued to have their names called. Cruz Pavao was the first of nine players from No. 23 Edge School to find spots in the draft. The dynamic scoring winger was chosen by the Tri-City Americans at 13th overall. Okanagan Hockey Academy’s Mathis Preston was selected No. 3 to the Spokane Chiefs. Forward Liam Ruck went No. 9 to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Okanagan, Northern Alberta and the Sabres were the only three teams with multiple players taken in the first 10 picks.
The first three rounds of the draft featured 30 players selected from the CSSHL. In all, 85 players from the CSSHL were chosen. Alberta led all provinces with 93 players selected. A total of 50 players from British Columbia were chosen, with another 44 players coming from Saskatchewan. Manitoba saw 38 players selected.
The WHL also held its Priority Draft this week, which consisted of two rounds and 44 selections.. Forty-one of the 44 players taken came from U.S.-based programs.
Selected first overall by the Spokane Chiefs was Brody Gillespie from RHA Kelowna. In 28 games this season, Gillespie tallied 26 goals and 54 points. Kelowna had a second forward taken at No. 2 when Cruz Waltze went to the Victoria Royals.
Four American programs from the WHH Rankings had multiple players taken across the board. No. 25 Los Angeles Jr. Kings led the way with eight, followed by six from No. 18 Dallas Stars Elite. No. 3 Shattuck-St. Mary’s had four players taken, and two from No. 12 Chicago Mission. Multiple players from these teams were standouts at USA Hockey Nationals earlier this year. Strong performances for Chicago’s Kalder Varga and Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll no doubt helped boost their profile and aided in their selections at No. 7 and No. 9, respectively.
The Kamloops Blazers took Dallas’ J.P. Hurlburt towards the end of the first round at No. 20. After waiting patiently, the Lethbridge Hurricanes snagged Jr. Kings forward Logan Stuart with the 36th pick. Parker Trottier was the highest Shattuck player chosen at No. 12 by the Regina Pats.
A total of 28 forwards, 12 defensemen and four goaltenders were selected in the Priority Draft. Players from 12 different states were chosen, with California leading the way with 10. Minnesota followed closely behind with nine and Texas with eight.
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At the Championship Cup for 2007-born teams, Dynamo Moscow lived up to its reputation as one of the premier squads this season. Following a 4-0-0 group play stage, the club went on to win its next three matchups in the playoffs. During the tournament, Dynamo’s incredible well-rounded team game was on full display. From scoring in bunches, to holding opponents to little offense, Dynamo was perfect. It all culminated in the championship game, where Dynamo edged SKA Strelna in a 3-2 victory.
Dynamo was one of five WHH-ranked teams in attendance at this year’s championship. Along with SKA Strelna, Dynamo joined Severstal Cherapovets, Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Siberia in Group B. Group A was home to world-ranked Avangard Omsk, Lokomotiv 2004 Yaroslavl and Salavat Yulaev. Rounding out the Group A teams were Dynamo Minsk and Amur. Each club played one game against its fellow group teams for playoff seeding. Avangard and Dynamo Moscow were the only teams to go undefeated in the group stage, ensuring them decent positioning in the quarterfinals of the playoff round.
Dynamo out-scored opponents by a combined 45-3 and was the only Group B team with a positive goal differential. They burned out goal lights as they averaged an incredible 11 goals per game, to go along with three shutouts. It’s defense didn’t allow much, and when it did, solid goaltending from Vladimir Selivanov and Kirill Golubev came up clutch. Avangard finished with a plus-21 goal differential and also carved through fellow group teams with ease.
It was an all-Dynamo opener when Moscow defeated Minsk 9-3 in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Mikhail Melikov collected a hat trick, while Ivan Ryabkin dished out three assists. Ryabkin and Melikov once again were standouts for Dynamo in their next contest. The duo combined for five points in a 7-1 victory over Amur, which secured them a spot in the championship game. Avangard emerged victorious in its first playoff game as well when it bested Metallurg 6-3. Janusz Heybatov notched two goals and an assist and six other players collected at least two points. The win set up a meeting with SKA Strelna in the semifinals with a future date with Dynamo Moscow on the line.
Strelna came out flying and opened up a two-goal lead in the first period. After regaining composure at the intermission, Avangard cut into the lead with a goal from Yegor Privalov. With about 10 minutes remaining in the game, Maxim Moiseev tied the game at 2 to force overtime. A little over three minutes into the extra frame, Alexander Moskalenko was the hero for Strelna when he tallied the game-winning goal. Roman Frass made a great individual rush up the ice and sent a perfect pass over to Moskalenko who sent a shot off the far post and in.
Dynamo Moscow once again got on the board first when Ivan Arkhipov tipped a shot from the point to kick off the scoring with 10 minutes left in the first period. With just over three minutes left, Melikov ripped a shot into the net to double Moscow’s lead. Ryabkin slid a pass over to Arseniy Anisimov, who then fed it through the crease to Melikov. Strelna, determined to change its fortunes, struck early in the second period to make it a 2-1 game. Erik Serbin rushed up the ice and created a partial two-on-one with Mikhail Lebdev. Lebdev finished the play when he shot the puck past the glove of Vladmir Selivanov. Ryabkin restored the two-goal lead when he one-timed a shot from the blue line through traffic with five minutes remaining in the second period.
Strelna made it a close game once more when it cashed in on an early power play in the third period. After goaltender Matvey Karbainov made a great outlet pass from near his crease, Strelna gained the offensive zone. The puck was thrown on net and deflected off Egor Platanov and in. Only down a goal, the remainder of regulation saw Strelna with numerous opportunities to tie the game, but a strong Dynamo defense held firm. Selivanov also came up with crucial saves down the final stages of the game as well to secure the championship. Ryabkin (10G, 15A) and Melikov (10G, 10A) finished as the top two scorers among all skaters.
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Champions were crowned at the third annual World Youth Championships in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Top select teams from across North America — and three European clubs — competed for the ‘08 WYC. After more than 100 games of action from the 15U age group, Minnesota-based SDP Elite earned the gold medal with a 5-2 win over Maroon Hockey. Goaltender Luke Carrithers had been one of the best in the tournament, leading his team to the championship with a 7-1-0 record. In the finale, though, he faced a trio of forwards Ben Bowen, Ethan Belchetz and Beckham Edwards from Maroon Hockey that presented the biggest challenge of the week.
Maroon Hockey entered the final as the only undefeated team at the ‘08 WYC. That would change when Riley Zupfer scored three consecutive goals in the second half to secure the championship for SDP Elite. Carrithers was sensational in the finale as well, making 33 saves en route to his tournament-leading sixth win.
Despite surrendering the most shots against in the ‘08 WYC, SDP Elite made it all the way to the ‘08 WYC finale with a 7-1-0 record. Luke Carrithers was a big reason for that playoff run, as he posted a 1.97 goals-against average and .914 save percentage through eight tournament games. An 18-save shutout in the semifinals helped propel SDP Elite to the championship game.
Maroon Hockey entered the final with a three-pronged attack of Ethan Belchetz, Ben Bowen and Beckham Edwards. However, when Carrithers took to the crease, none would be able to find the back of the net. The 5-foot-11 goaltender snuffed out Maroon’s three biggest offensive threats to help SDP Elite win gold on Tuesday.
Even though they were eliminated in the quarterfinals, both Jamie Glance and Braidy Wassilyn finished among the top five in points. A forward for Mount St. Charles this past season, Glance started the tournament off with a five-point performance on Friday. He followed that up with a three-point outing in a 5-2 win over Russia-based Provorov Selects. Glance would put together two more multi-point games before tournament’s end. His most pivotal performance being a two-goal game in the Round of 16, where Glance scored the game-winning goal in a 5-2 win that eliminated DraftDay-Black.
Wassilyn was equally influential for Everest Academy. Skating alongside Alex McLean, Wassilyn helped fuel an offense that finished third in scoring with 30 goals in seven games. The team’s plus-30 goal differential was the second-largest of all 36 participating teams.
They were only out-done by a pair of SDP forwards in Sammy Nelson and Dylan Dean.
Nelson scored a tournament-high 20 points in nine games. Eight of those came in the elimination rounds, including a pair of goals in the championship. Dean — another player from Mount St. Charles this season — added nine goals and 19 points to the mix. Together, they accounted for 37 percent of SDP Elite’s total offense.
Lightly tested throughout the tournament, Jacob Ceranic stopped 69-of-72 shots faced as he won five of his six starts for Maroon Hockey. He made __ of those saves in the _-_ win in the championship game.
After falling to RSG Selects 7-6 in a shootout on the opening day of the tournament, SDP Elite won eight straight games en route to ‘08 WYC gold. Each of their wins would be by a margin of three goals or more, as SDP dominated its opponents.
Nine different SDP skaters average a point per game at the tournament. That depth pushed the Minnesota-based club to the top of the standings. Their plus-36 goal differential was the best among the 36 participating teams.
In the elimination rounds, SDP faced three consecutive opponents who had not experienced a loss. In the quarterfinals, they beat previously undefeated Roc City Elite Red 6-2 on Monday. Then, SDP eliminated Western Canada Prime who was 7-0-0 prior to the matchup. And finally, in the championship, they handed Maroon Hockey its first, only and biggest defeat of the tournament.
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Oliver Tomaštík and Dominik Železný came out flying at the ‘11 Elite World Selects Invitational. With a combined 28 points over five games, the forwards led Slovakia Selects to a 4-0-1 preliminary round record. That run secured the No. 2-seed heading into the playoff rounds. It was there they carried the team to three more wins en route to the championship. The gold medal was Slovakia’s first at the tournament.
Slovakia scored the most goals out of all 10 participating clubs in pool play. Domination that many expected to continue into the playoffs. Against Finland Selects, both Tomaštík (3G, 1A) and Železný (3G, 2A) recorded hat tricks to propel Slovakia to a 8-0 victory. Next up was Pro Hockey, who managed to put up some offense on Slovakia. However, it was not enough in a 5-3 loss. That win sent Slovakia into the final game against Sweden Selects. Sweden upset the heavily favored Czech Knights in the semifinals with an overtime victory.
The odds were looking good for the Knights to defend their title from last year’s tournament. Skating into the playoffs as the only undefeated team, they made a statement with a 16-0 quarterfinal win over ALPS Selects. Riding that momentum, the Knights opened the scoring against Sweden just over three minutes into the game. Determined to not let things get out of hand, Sweden responded with three goals in nine minutes to take a 3-1 lead into intermission.
After Sweden increased its lead to 4-1 early in the second, the Czechs flipped a switch. Displaying the depth that got them to the semifinals, three different players scored for the Knights to tie the game at four. In overtime, Liam Klarén finished off the win for Sweden 1:26 into the extra frame. The victory secured Sweden’s spot in a rematch against Slovakia for the title. Earlier in the tournament, Slovakia bested Sweden 3-2.
Like in their previous meeting, Sweden had no answer for the offensive attack of Slovakia. After blazing out to a 3-0 lead, Sweden cut into Slovakia’s lead only to surrender two more goals before the first period ended. Gustav Grundström and Tomaštík tallied the only goals of the second to end their run with a 6-2 win. Tomaštík and Železný only collected one point apiece, leaving Tomáš Brázdil as the lone Slovakian player with more than one (2G). The championship was Slovakia’s first at the ‘11 Elite World Selects Invite.
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The Championship of Russia among 2006-born teams will kick off on Tuesday. Ten teams will be divided into two groups of five, with four mainstays from the WHH Rankings among them. Group A will consist of No. 7 Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Ak Bars Kazan, Crystal, Lokomotiv 2004 Yaroslavl and Dynamo Minsk. Group B will include No. 1 CSKA Moscow, No. 4 SKA Silver Lions, No. 5 SKA Strelna, Siberia and Severstal Cherepovets. Here’s how we predict each team will finish in the divisions, and who has the best chance to secure the championship.
Salavat Yulaev Ufa kicked off its 2022-23 campaign with a 10-game win streak. A performance that gave them solid enough ground to earn a spot in the Top 10 Russian rankings. For the entirety of this season, they have not relinquished a spot among the premier Russian clubs. Incredible scoring depth and dependable goaltending allowed the team to skate to a 30-5-3 record. Six of the top 10 scorers on the team have scored more than 30 points.
No one did it better than the duo of Georgy Sukharev and Daniel Kurmanaev. Each player ended with 57 and 47 points, respectively. Sukharev found the back of the net 35 times in 36 contests, recording almost a goal per game. Assisting on a majority of those was Kurmanaev, who notched 36 assists. Most of the team’s ranked matchups came against Yugra Yukior, with earlier in-season battles with Avangard Omsk. The bottom line is they have no issue handling teams they should beat.
The case for Lokomotiv 2004 Yaroslavl is an interesting one. A strong finish to the regular season gave them a 13-13-7 record. The results in the win column were not there as often as the team would have hoped, but they still held their own against some of the best in Russia. Close losses to CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow proved that the team has the ability to hang with the big clubs. A different bounce here or there may have led to more positive results. Entering the tournament as one of the hotter teams, they are riding a four-game win streak. A big question for Lokomotiv will be if Matvey Kazakov can continue to lead the attack and build upon his 18 goals and 38 points.
Ak Bars Kazan hovered around the bubble of entering the Top 10 Russian rankings but was unable to crack it. Despite a 38-3-1 record, they have yet to clash with any of the premier programs from the ‘06 birth year. As a result, all eyes will be on them to see how they fare when the talent level rises. Leading scorer Oleg Kuznetsov will be tasked with doing the heavy lifting on offense. He has recorded 34 goals and 75 points.
Crystal ended the regular season 27-9-0, and are in the midst of a three-game win streak. Consistent production from Matvei Vasilyuk was a large part of that record. With 14 points (4G, 9A) in his last 10 games, Vasilyuk brought his season total to 53 points by the club’s final contest. Artem Leichenko’s 19 goals and 49 points are second behind him.
Similar to Crystal, Dynamo Minsk comes into the championship tournament on a win streak of its own. The team was victorious in the last four outings to bring their total to 28-11-5.
Having been defeated just twice all season, CSKA Moscow has been a mainstay atop the ‘06 Russian rankings all year long. The schedule was littered with matchups against the top teams of the birth year, and they answered the call with a resounding 33-2-0 record. CSKA does have previous meetings with two teams in the group. On August 26th, they defeated SKA Strelna 8-1. They also opened their season with a 3-0 shutout of SKA Silver Lions on August 23rd of last year.
On a 12-game winning streak, you have to go all the way back to December 12 for their last loss, 6-5 to Spartak Moscow. 10 players have recorded at least 20 points collectively, led by Ivan Okunev (37G, 41A) and Ilya Pautov (17G, 34A). Both players have also suited up in action for CSKA Moscow’s U18 team as well. Battle tested and deep, CSKA enters this tournament as favorites to win it all.
Despite dropping their most recent decision to SKA Silver Lions, SKA Strelna has gotten the better of them in their regular season series. In eight contests, Strelna was victorious in five of them. Three of the meetings went past regulation, with Strelna winning twice in overtime and once in a shootout. Four of the games were also decided by just one goal, with the largest margin of victory coming for Silver Lions in a 6-0 final on September 25th. Makar Opolinsky’s 27 goals and 62 points are first for Strelna, tied with Evgeny Novikov (26G, 36A).
The Silver Lions ended their regular season schedule strong with a four-game win streak. Included in that run was a 5-3 victory over SKA Strelna on April 15th. Along with CSKA and Strelna, the Silver Lions make Group B a three-team race to see who will come out on top. Egor Grakhov has done most of the scoring for the Silver Lions, collecting 61 points. Three other players behind him have also notched at least 50 points as well. With a high-powered, heavy attack up front, the Silver Lions should be on the radar to contend for a playoff spot.
Severstal has experience against Strelna and the Silver Lions, facing off with each three times during the regular season. They were unable to get a win in those games, and were collectively outscored 40-11. Searching to find some positive ground, Severstal have lost their last five games heading into the tournament.
On an impressive 20-game winning streak dating back to January 14th, Siberia has yet to play consistently among the best competition of the birth year. They have experience against some bubble teams such as Auto Spartakovets and Avangard Omsk. Siberia even had a clash with No. 8 Metallurg Magnitogorsk earlier this season, falling in a 5-0 final.
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As preliminary round play concluded on Thursday, there was only one club left standing with an unblemished record at the 2011 Elite World Selects Invitational. The Czech Knights entered this year’s tournament with sights set on repeating at 12U champions. The squad has gotten off to a stellar start, going 5-0-0 in pool play and enters the playoff round as the No. 1-seed. As all eight participating teams make the playoff round, we preview the initial matchups and which clubs stand the best chance to move on.
The Knights were able to put up 50 goals during pool play contests. Those numbers were largely aided by the stellar play of Arnošt Binter, Gabriel Wsol and Michal Hruška. All three forwards produced 15 points, with Wsol leading all players at the Invitational with 12 goals. Six of the club’s 11 skaters have 10 or more points, giving the Czechs some of the best depth among any team. If they can keep the production spread throughout the lineup, and Binter can continue to show off insane skill like on the goal below, the Czechs will be a tough out.
Taking on the Knights in the quarterfinal round will be ALPS Selects, who went winless during preliminary round games. The Knights bested them 19-2 in their previous meeting on Wednesday. The Czechs should have no issue recording a second victory and moving on. Either the Latvia Selects or Sweden Selects will be waiting in the semifinals.
After suffering a 6-5 opening overtime loss to Latvia Selects, the Slovakia Selects haven’t looked back. Finishing pool play with four consecutive wins, they secured the No. 2-seed and will take on Finland Selects. Having played each other once already, Slovakia was victorious against Finland in a 20-1 final earlier today. In that win, 12 players collected at least two points, led by Matias Krúpa’s six assists. Oliver Tomaštík (11G, 6A) and Dominik Železný (9G, 7A) will lead the charge for Slovakia. The two enter as the top scorers thus far among all players. Having only scored nine goals total, it will be all hands on deck for Finland. The winner of this tilt will take on whoever emerges from the clash between Pro Hockey and Südtirol.
Pro Hockey skated to a 4-1-0 record to lock down a matchup with No. 6-seeded Südtirol. The lone blemish was a 7-3 loss to the Knights. Tyson Orr has impressed on the offensive side with 11 goals and 15 points. Pro Hockey’s success also hinged on the strong performances of goaltender Donovan Knapp. Knapp was between the pipes for three wins, recording a 1.60 goals-against average and .948 save percentage. Both numbers were good enough for second overall among all goalies in preliminary round play. Only four goals managed to find their way past Knapp in those three appearances. Continued consistency from him will be paramount to playoff success, especially against an interesting opponent like Südtirol. Despite lower offensive numbers than Pro Hockey, the club still managed two wins in pool play.
For the No. 4 and No. 5-seeds, Latvia Selects will face off with Sweden Selects for the second time at the showcase. In the prior meeting, Sweden shut out Latvia 7-0, with Charles Wikström producing two goals. In net, Hampus Trygg made 24 saves and was unable to be solved by Latvia. If Sweden puts him back in the crease for the rematch, Latvia will have to come up with a new strategy to get pucks by him. Both rosters are close in skill, so of all the quarterfinal games this one feels like it can go either way. If the head-to-head results are any indication, Sweden will have no issue moving on.
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The third annual World Youth Championships (WYC) in Philadelphia are set to begin on Friday. Thirty-eight teams will compete in the ’08 Division, with players from as many as 10 different countries in attendance. More than 500 individuals from the U.S. and Canada, as well teams from Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia will be on hand. Players from Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Austria and China are also rostered amongst participating teams.
Over the course of the next three days, teams will compete in five pool-play games. From there, 16 teams will advance to the single-elimination playoffs, where a champion will be determined by Tuesday afternoon.
Maroon Hockey won the ‘07 tournament last spring, and the organization returns to defend its title. Blue Army won the inaugural ‘06 tournament in 2021, and they too, look to win a second WYC title as well. In that span, 54.1 percent of all games have been decided by two goals or fewer. The ’08 WYC is loaded with teams in an event that’s proven to be highly competitive. The next 90-plus games from the Voorhees Skate Zones are certain to be high level, and packed with late-game heroics.
Less than a week after playing in the 15U World Selects Invitational, Provorovs Selects remains states-side to compete in the ’08 WYC. The 800-mile trip from Nashville to Philadelphia this week was a quick jaunt compared to the 5,000-mile transcontinental flight from Yaroslavl, Russia.
Provorovs Selects went 3-2-0 in pool play at the WSI, and was knocked out in the first round of playoffs. Aleksandr Shalabanov, Dmitrii Drobyshevskii and Vladimir Provorov will be hoping for better results this week in Philly.
Shalabanov led the team in scoring with eight points, factoring in on the offense in all six tournament games. He’ll need to continue that production at the ’08 WYC for Provorovs to have success.
Provorovs Selects won’t be the only organization to compete at both events back-to-back. Boston Hockey Club, DevCo Hockey, DraftDay and National Hockey Prospects will all migrate from Nashville to Philly for this weekend’s event.
Alex McLean is coming off of a record-breaking performance at last week’s WSI. He’ll look to continue his dominance over the ‘08 birth year while skating for Everest Academy this Friday. McLean will once again be joined by Kent Greer. The tandem played together this season for No. 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite. They also helped CCM All Out win the WSI championship last week. Can McLean and Greer help carry another team to a championship this week in Philadelphia?
Rudolfs Berzkalns and Max Crete — CCM All Out teammates of McLean and Greer’s — will now become foes at the World Youth Championships. They worked together to win the ‘08 WSI championship on Sunday and will now compete against one another to win a WYC.
Berzkalns scored nine goals and 25 points last week. He joins an Evolve Hockey team loaded with players from Pens Elite and Bishop Kearney Selects.
Maroon Hockey looks to defend its title as 15U WYC champs with a bevy of top Canadian prospects. Alessandro Di Iorio, Evan Hendrick and Andrew Robinson are among those suiting up for Maroon after playing this past season for No. 1 Vaughan Kings.
Top talent from the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) will suit up for WCAN Prime as well. Edge School’s Cruz Pavao and Landon DuPont, as well as Northern Alberta Xtreme’s Knox Bendera and Maddox Rose were standout performers in Western Canada’s top youth hockey league this past season.
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The championship game at the 2023 Future Legends Invitational was a matchup of best on best. Team Yzerman was the top team coming out of the Campbell Division with a 3-1-1 record. Their counterpart from the Wales Division, Team St. Louis, was 4-1-0. When the two 2011-born squads collided in Sunday’s championship game, it was full of drama. Ultimately, Easton Scott was the one with late-game heroics for Team St. Louis, winning the championship 6-5 in overtime.
Team 2011 St. Louis taking the ship at HHOF Future Legends yesterday! Congrats 🏆🎉 pic.twitter.com/wLBVOqLCbc
— PLAY Hockey (@playhockeyna) May 1, 2023
After eight minutes of sudden-death action, forward Jack Cross corralled the puck behind Team Yzerman’s net. He sent a centering pass into the slot to Brody Grant, who quickly fired a wrist shot on net. Owen Ryan made the initial save for Team Yzerman, but Scott lingering on the near post was able to chip in the rebound to win the game for Team St. Louis.
It was Scott’s seventh goal of the Future Legends Invitational. He finished second behind teammate and New Jersey Colonials forward Jack Cross, who led the tournament with 11 goals. The duo accounted for 18 of Team St. Louis’ 35 goals over the weekend.
In 33 games between 2011 born teams at the Future Legends Invitational, 16 of them were decided by two goals or fewer. Team St. Louis played in five of those games, victorious in four including the championship thriller.
The 192 individual participants were evenly divided into 12 teams for the weekend. Similarly, 160 players from the 2012 birth year were separated onto 10 competitive teams. The ‘12 age group played 28 games total, of which half were decided by two goals or fewer.
No team’s total goal differential exceeded plus-11, meaning that the highest average margin of victory by any team was just 1.57 goals.
Kale Nicol led all 2012s in scoring with 21 points, but eight other skaters finished the tournament averaging more than a point per game as well. Nicol picked up multiple points in every game he played in, including two outings with a hat trick. He also scored a goal and an assist in Team Howe’s championship loss to Team Lemieux.
Even as champion, Team Lemieux suffered an 8-3 loss at the hands of Team Lidstrom. The two teams would meet again in the semifinals, with Lemieux victorious in overtime after Samuel Douglas’ fourth goal of the tournament.
The leading scorer by a wide margin, Kale Nicol scored 14 goals — five more than any other skater — and 21 points. He opened the Future Legends Invitational with a three-point performance, including the game-tying goal to force a shootout. Nicol was also crucial in Team Howe’s playoff games, scoring four points in a 6-5 win over Team Yzerman. That advanced his team to the semifinals, where Nicol mounted another four-point game to push Team Howe past Team St. Louis, 7-4.
The championship was all Ryan Graves, though. The Mid-Fairfield Jr. Rangers forward put together his best performance of the tournament in the final game. He scored the opening goal 4:35 into the first period. Graves followed that up three more goals and an assist, as he tied the game early in the third, and gave Team Lemieux the 6-5 lead late in the period as well.
Graves finished third in the tournament in scoring with 15 points, topped only by Nicol and his Future Legends teammate Austin Jarvi who had 18.
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This week, eight teams from eight countries will lace up the skates at the 2011 Elite World Selects Invitational in Bolzano, Italy. The Czech Knights will have their sights set on repeating as 12U champions, as their 2010 squad won the championship last year. But they will not be the only ones with aspirations of adding to their trophy case. Pro Hockey, a collection of North American players, will be in search of its third championship. They won back-to-back in 2015 and 2016, and most recently 2019. Finland Selects, winners in 2013, will also be on the hunt to be the last team standing.
Making things interesting will be that all three teams will play one another during pool play. The Knights open their schedule against Finland before taking on Pro Hockey on Thursday. Finland will cash with Pro Hockey on Wednesday, which is the third game for each squad out of five pool play contests. Joining them will be Sweden Selects, Slovakia Selects, Südtirol, ALPS Selects and Latvia Selects. Following the opening round, all eight teams will be seeded 1-8 for the playoff rounds which begins on Friday. The semifinals and championship game will both take place on Saturday.
Pro Hockey will consist of some of the best 2011-born talent in Canada. Tyson Orr, defenseman for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and Rouhi Assal of the Vaughan Kings bring their talents to the team. Both the Jr. Canadiens and Kings are among the premier teams in the World Rankings.
Finland Selects roster will consist of numerous teammates from various Finnish programs. Defenseman Justus Liikanen, forward Viljam Huuskonen and goaltender Alex Oliver Maslov all hail from KJT Hockey. Manu Vähäsöyrinki and Richard WEI, a pair of forwards from Kiekko-Espoo Blues, will bolster scoring depth. Joining them will be K-Espoo Blues teammate Eemeli Salminen, whose task it will be to help patrol the blue line.
The Czechs have two pairs of players from the same team. Goaltender Nikita Kuzin and defenseman Kirill Rudenko from Slavia Praha. Coming from BK Mlada Boleslav are defenseman David Skořepa and goaltender Milan Kobrle. Viggbyholms IK and Värmdö will have multiple representatives on Sweden. Latvia’s roster will largely be made up of players from HS Riga and Prizma. These are collectively the skaters on each team with experience playing with each other in competitive action. Chemistry that should lead to thrilling plays and exciting matchups throughout the duration of the showcase.
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A major reason why North America Prospects had been undefeated heading into the playoff round at the U14 Girls World Selects Invitational was goaltending. In our Round 1 recap, we looked at the performances of Bailey Unruh and Rylee Allison as two key factors in the success of the club. Throughout the playoffs, both Unruh and Allison continued their solid play to backstop NAP to a championship over the Sweden Selects.
In Sweden’s semifinal win against Minnesota Prospects, the team’s incredible scoring depth was on full display. Six different players found the back of the net, allowing them to take a 6-2 lead into the second period. Liv Heinicke took advantage of a power play opportunity to make it a three-goal deficit. However, Minnesota was unable to gain any momentum offensively other than that. Alice Nilson (1G, 2A), Ida Lindberg (2A) and Elsa Lake (2A) all collected two points for Sweden. With the win, Sweden guaranteed its spot in the final against North American Prospects.
After NAP defeated DraftDay 5-1 in the quarterfinals, France was the next opponent on their calendar. Despite having one of the best team defenses at the tournament, they were unable to contain the high-powered offense of NAP in a 4-2 loss. Things started well for France in the game, as Gabrielle Roussel opened the scoring 3:25 into the first period. Mia Skinner tied the game at 1-1, which is where things stood heading into the first intermission. Both squads exchanged goals in the early moments of the second half before NAP pulled away. Goals from Lily Martin and Maya Dutton secured the victory. Allison stopped 16 of 18 shots she faced between the pipes.
Sweden came out hot in the championship game, putting up two goals in just over a minute to take a 2-0 lead. Nova Krantz struck first at 11:25 before Emma Hesselvall netted her third of the playoffs. Hessselvall scored in all three of Sweden’s playoff matchups. Shortly after, NAP cut the lead in half when Melaina Struna found the back of the net. At 4:23 of the second period, Adrienne Erickson tied the game at 2 with a power-play goal. Despite outshooting Sweden 18-2 in the second, NAP was unable to find another goal. The championship would be decided in a shootout. Jaiden Krushelniski, who led NAP in the preliminary round with seven points, was the only shooter to score in the skills competition. Allison once more came up huge in net, making 22 saves.
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