Each week, World Hockey Hub highlights a few of the most exciting upcoming games in youth hockey. From the hottest rivalries to the biggest tournaments, we focus on matchups that will impact the landscape among top teams in the sport.
This week, we highlight two cross-border tilts between Canadian and U.S. squads, as well as a Sweden team kicking off its first action of the season vs. a top-10 opponent.
Following time off for both teams, the ‘07 Dallas Stars Elite and RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna will face off in a cross-border matchup on October 9 in Fargo, ND.
 |  |
| Sunday, October 9 @ 8 am CDT Southwest Youth Ice Arena |
Currently sitting just outside the U.S. rankings, the Stars have had a very successful start to their season. With a 9-2-2 record, they have been able to remain competitive against fellow teams in the 2007 birth year. The schedule includes more dates against top-ranked opponents as the season carries on, so it will be a good measuring-stick game for Dallas to build upon early.
Kelowna comes into this matchup finding themselves propelled to the eighth spot in the Canadian rankings thanks to a season-opening victory against Delta Hockey Academy back on September 24.
What the boys from RINK bring into this game that cannot be taught is size, highlighted in the form of hometown defenseman Marcus Sadovia. He looms over the blueline at 6-foot-three, 165 lbs. and is one-of-six skaters on the roster north of six-feet tall. Having a significant size advantage could make it difficult for Stars players to knock anyone off the puck.
And let’s not forget, Louis Gu and Liam Russell, who tower between the pipes for Kelowna at 6-foot-one and 6-foot-four, respectively.
The 2011-born Pittsburgh Penguins Elite will travel north of the border for a contest against the Vaughan Kings on October 8.
 |  |
| Saturday, October 8 @ 5:05 pm EDT Canlan Sports |
Pittsburgh has stormed out of the gates, making quick work of the opposition en route to a 9-0-1 record. The Penguins would be a major measuring stick for any club. Yet for Vaughan, the task becomes a bit taller as they have yet to suit up for any games so far this season.
What may make a victory even more daunting for the Kings is the explosive nature of Pittsburgh’s offense, leaving little time for Vaughan’s defensive corps and goaltenders to settle in for competitive game action.
As regional play began last weekend among youth teams in Sweden, Täby HC and Viggbyholms IK look to both solidify their spots in the Top 10 for 2007-born clubs when they face off against each other on Saturday.
 |  |
| Saturday, October 8 @ 5:40 pm CET Tibble Ice Hall |
Each club has a comfortable feel for their squads at this point in the season, as both have taken part in a fair number of games.
Täby (9-2-1) and Viggbyholms (6-3-0) were both placed in the Elite Division at the 2022 Sweden Hockey Trophy, and have since been active in district play in Stockholm. Currently, each team sits atop their individual groups within the district, with Täby having a 4-0-1 record, and a 3-0-0 record for Viggbyholms.
Statistically speaking, depth is a strong component of the style of play that has helped bring these programs early-season success. Across district play, many of the top scorers can be found hailing from these teams.
Täby’s Marcus Nordmark led his team with 13 points in 5 games. A versatile playmaker, Nordmark uses his slim frame to dart around defenders, with a knack for finding open lanes to fire off perfect passes to teammates. His nine points are tied for second among all skaters in the group. Behind him, four other players from Täby are tied with seven points.
While Täby’s balanced attack certainly stands out on paper, Viggbyholms’ lineup should impress even more. When browsing the top-10 scorers within their group, all are names of players from Viggbyholms, topped off by Ludwig Hellgren, who has peppered the opposition from all angles on the ice, tallying seven points (4G, 4A) in just three games.
And if that isn’t impressive enough, he also notched two goals in five games for Stockholm North at the 2022 TV-Pucken tournament, helping them to a 5-0-0 record in group play.
With both teams loaded up on offensive talent, this head-to-head matchup should be thrilling to watch, and will have fans reaching for the popcorn.
Dynamo St. Petersburg and SKA St. Petersburg have seen a lot of each other lately.
After Dynamo defeated SKA in the final at the St. Petersburg Cup for 2007-born teams, the two programs squared off the very next day, with SKA emerging as the victor from a 5-2 result.
The two teams will meet again for the third time in eight days this Saturday, so the adage of “knowing one’s opponent” should be prevalent here.
 |  |
| Saturday, October 8 |
Given how the past two games between these two programs have gone, there’s sure to be similar fireworks when they take to the ice.
Offense is the name of the game for these teams, and after trading goals in their first two matchups of the season, don’t expect this to be a low-scoring affair.
Dynamo boasts a versatile forward group that is comfortable when the shot count is high, and they spend most of their time in the offensive zone. Alexander Kotov and Erik Pastukhov lead the charge, amassing a resounding 18 points in all contests.
Kotov did most of his damage at the St. Petersburg Cup, where he tallied six goals and seven assists. Supporting the 5’8” forward’s dynamic scoring ability have been Daniil Prokhorov (14G, 1A) and Gleb Semenov (4G, 11A).
SKA will roll out their own strong offensive unit, led by Andrei Korablev’s 13 points (9G, 4A). But what SKA has that Dynamo does not is a defenseman who can strike from the blue line with incredible accuracy like Makar Timashkov.
Timashkov’s ability to get shots through to the net with ease lends another option to SKA’s attack, and one they will hope to exploit if their forwards are shut down at any point in the game. The sturdy D-man has garnered nine points thus far, and if his teammates keep feeding him the puck, those numbers will only rise.
Want to stay updated on all the games of the week and the top teams across youth hockey? Follow WHH on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord and YouTube for more!
Last spring featured the culmination of a year-long battle between Chicago Mission and Shattuck-St. Mary’s for national supremacy at the 2007 birth-year — a controversial one, to say the least.
Still, the banner and the championship hats went to Mission, and that’s all that really counts in the end.
If you missed it last April, Mission prevailed over SSM in the 2022 USA Hockey 14U National Championship, with Cameron McKinney being credited with the game-winning goal early in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
The problem is that there’s no video evidence confirming the referee’s call on the ice that the puck actually went into the SSM net. The announcer on the official broadcast of the game thought it was a routine save until he saw the ref pointing to the net, but it will forever remain a mystery on whether it was the right call or not.
The dramatic conclusion to the 2021-22 season only makes the growing rivalry between these two talented squads even more interesting to watch in the ’22-23 campaign.
Chicago Mission returns its entire roster from its national championship run, aside from Eddie Gatch joining incumbent Bjorn Bronas between the pipes. Shattuck, meanwhile, has had a few changes to the lineup, but the core from last season is still there. SSM’s biggest changes have come from Lukas Sawchyn, Masun Fleece, William Belle and goaltender Harry Boettiger getting the call-up to the Shattuck 16U roster this season, and bypassing the 15O level.
The two squads got an early start in resuming battle on the ice, as Mission and SSM both took part in the 2022 Minnesota Blades Fall Showcase at Brooklyn Park Ice Arena in Minneapolis.
There, Mission maintained its bragging rights, as the neon green jerseys skated to a 2-1 win. A broken play on a face-off proved to be the difference.
Some of the biggest names on both rosters found their way to the scoresheet, with Asher Barnett the first to find the goal column. The Mission blue liner — a highly-touted prospect in his birth-year — gave his Chicago club an early lead when he sent a point shot through traffic and into the back of the SSM net with 7:07 remaining in the first period.
The two teams played to a scoreless middle frame, but it was Egan Beveridge capitalizing on a strange play that turned out to be the game-winning goal for Mission. A scramble off a face-off led to the puck springing out of a pile right at the SSM net, and while the initial shot was stopped, Beveridge was Johnny-on-the-spot for the rebound put-home goal with 11:33 left on the clock.
Shattuck took advantage of a power-play opportunity a few minutes later, as right off the first face-off to start the PP, Aaron Obobaifo was set up for a one-timer blast from center, just inside the blue line.
Sending the puck through a crowd, Obobaifo was the only SSM skater to beat Mission netminder Bjorn Bronas on the day. The goal made the score 2-1, but that’s how it stayed, despite SSM getting more power-play time before the final buzzer.
As it stands now, Mission, with a 12-4-1 record, is ranked No. 1 in the world. Their losses have come to the Minnesota Blades twice (a split-season team from the State of Hockey), No. 8 Bishop Kearney Selects and No. 6 Mid-Fairfield Jr. Rangers — all highly-touted programs in their own right.
Meanwhile, SSM holds a 3-2-2 record, putting them at No. 2 in the rankings. Shattuck dropped its opener to the Minnesota Walleye 15U program (another split-season squad) 5-4 on Sept. 13, and they played Bishop Kearney and the Minnesota Blades to 3-3 ties in the same Blades Showcase that Mission appeared in.
The two teams have set aside three days for more battles, as Mission will travel to SSM for games on Nov. 11, 12 and 13. They are also scheduled to play each other in Chicago on Feb. 10.
The rivalry between Shattuck and Mission has become must-see action in youth hockey and all four future dates should be circled on the calendar. Maybe we’ll even see them play each other again in Wayne, New Jersey, for the 2023 USA Hockey National Championships, too.
Follow WHH on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Discord for more from the top teams, games and events in youth hockey!