While the hockey world may be fired up for the rare summer edition of the Under-20 World Junior Championships coming up in August, there is also a pretty sizable international preseason tournament for bright, young stars that can’t be overlooked.
The 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup takes place July 31 through Aug. 6 in Red Deer, Alberta, as some of the world’s best Under-18 players converge on Canada.
It has had its share of different titles, debuting as the Phoenix Cup in 1991 in Yokohama and Sapporo, Japan. After three years there, it moved to Mexico City for one year, back to Japan in 1995 and then to Nelson and Castlegar, B.C., in 1996. In 1997, the tournament — by then called the Junior World Cup — moved to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where it first alternated between countries from 1997-2001 and then became a joint affair from 2002-17.
The tournament was renamed in honor of Ivan Hlinka, the Czech hockey legend who passed away after a car accident in 2004. When it moved back to Canada in 2018 (Edmonton and Alberta), it was renamed once again, this time the Hlinka Gretzky Cup to include none other than Wayne Gretzky.
In short, it’s the kick-off event for the players’ NHL Draft season, and it’s always worth a watch when you consider some of the players that have skated in the tournament.
It’s a who’s-who of Canadian hockey royalty on the alumni list – Paul Kariya played in the inaugural event, while Jerome Iginla, Joe Thornton, Sidney Crosby, Carey Price, Steven Stamkos, Nathan MacKinnon, Aaron Ekblad and Alexis Lafreniere have represented their country at the event.
The international list is star-studded, as well, as the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, Gabriel Landeskog, Tomas Plekanec, Teuvo Teravainen, Kirill Kaprizov and Mikko Rantanen are just some off the top.
The Americans, however, handle the tournament a little differently. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup for USA Hockey is the opportunity to get international experience and exposure for the players not playing for the National Team Development Program. Talented players are on every roster – Johnny Gaudreau, Mikey Anderson, Casey Mittelstadt, Kailer Yamamoto, Alex Nedeljkovic and Kyle Connor are some of the more recent – but it’s not exactly the ‘best-on-best’ you will see at the World Juniors.
Ironically, the other countries are being forced to adopt a little bit of the Americans’ strategy this go-round, since players who are going to be competing in the World Juniors later in the month won’t be expected to play in two tournaments. The biggest name to not be skating in the tournament is Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 overall pick in next summer’s NHL Draft. He was on Team Canada’s roster for the canceled World Junior tournament last winter, and he’s not on the Hlinka Gretzky roster, so we’re expecting to see him in action in the U20 event later in the month. Adam Fantilli is not on Canada’s Hlinka Gretzky roster, either, but he is a late ’04 birth-year.
Slovakia’s Maxim Strabak and Dalibor Dvorsky are 2023 NHL Draft eligible players who were on their country’s World Junior rosters in the first go-round, as well; Dvorsky especially is appearing high on way-to-early mock drafts.
And while COVID-19 may not be impacting the tournament like it has the last few seasons (Canada didn’t play last year out of safety concerns), the continuing war in Ukraine has led to tournament organizers deciding to not invite Russia to the Hlinka Gretzky.
Star-power abounds, nonetheless, as we are excited to see Brayden Yager of Moose Jaw (WHL), Calum Richie of Oshawa (OHL) and Zach Benson of Winnipeg (WHL) lead a high-powered Team Canada offense. Theo Lindstein is one to watch out of Sweden, as is Eduard Sale of Czechia and Kasper Halttunen of Finland.
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Since the organization acquired the building in 2015, USA Hockey has used USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich., as a home for major Team USA events.
One of those is the World Junior Summer Showcase (WJSS), in which USAH brings together the country’s top players eligible for the upcoming World Juniors, as well as top talent from Canada, Sweden and Finland.
Missing out on a traditional Summer Showcase in 2022 is one of the last (hopefully) hockey-related casualties of COVID-19 restrictions, but the event is just being altered this summer, not completely canceled.
And for good reason, of course, because the hockey world will be getting a summer edition of the World Juniors this August.
This time around, USA Hockey is hosting the 2022 National Junior Evaluation Camp in Plymouth, where Team USA will take over USA Hockey Arena from July 24 through Aug. 3. It will just be U.S. players, and while fans won’t be able to see Canada, Finland and Sweden, there will be more American talent skating than usual. Sixty-three players will be at the camp, because USA Hockey has to work on two World Juniors rosters, not just one.
They are split into two groups; the schedule shows a 2023 group and a 2022 group. The 2023 group began skating on Sunday (July 24), while the 2022 group takes the ice on Tuesday (July 26).
The 2023 group that’s currently skating features a mix of 2003 and 2004 birth-year players.
The lone outlier is Amherst, Mass., native Ryan Leonard, a 2005 birth-year forward who just wrapped up his first season in Plymouth with the NTDP Under-17 Team. Leonard is a 2023 NHL Draft-eligible player; he is joined by late 2004 birth-year members Jacob Fowler (a goaltender from Aspen, Colo.) and Charlie Stramel (a forward from Rosemont, Minn.) as camp invitees who have not had the opportunity to be drafted yet.
Taking a full look at the 63-man roster, however, will show you a whole bunch of players who have heard their names called by NHL teams. Fifty-three of the 63 players are property of NHL clubs. Ten of those were first-round picks, while 14 of them were second-round picks.
Thirty-one of the players played college hockey last season — we’re including in that count Thomas Bordeleau, who signed with San Jose after his freshman season with the University of Michigan and played in professional games immediately after. Only four played in the OHL.
Eleven of the players invited just concluded their second and final season with the NTDP, while a total of 36 are alums of USA Hockey’s elite training program in Plymouth. That means that 57 percent of the participants are NTDP products, which shows both the strength of the program, but also that players who do not make the NTDP or choose to go elsewhere can still reach junior hockey’s highest plateaus.
Players have come from all across the country, showcasing USA Hockey’s growing footprint for player development. Twenty-one states are represented on the evaluation camp roster, though Minnesota (11) and Michigan (eight) still lead the way. Pennsylvania has five as the hockey world sees the impact of the Sidney Crosby era in Pittsburgh, well documented by Logan Cooley’s No. 3 overall selection in this year’s NHL Draft. Illinois and Massachusetts both produced four, which is the same number as California. A skim of the roster shows you other locations like Fort Myers, Fla. (Seamus Casey), Bozeman, Mont. (Braden Holt), Dallas, Texas (Brent Johnson), Salt Lake City, Utah (Ian Moore) and Scottsdale, Ariz. (Josh Doan and Cutter Gauthier) as the hockey footprint expands across the States.
The U.S. group is practicing through Tuesday, Aug. 2 – in previous years at the World Junior Summer Showcase and similar events, cuts would take place throughout the duration. We will see about that this time around. Two ‘2023 Team Evaluation Scrimmages’ will take place on Thursday, July 28 and Monday, Aug. 1, while there will be a 2022 Team Intrasquad Scrimmage on Friday, July 29 and then a 2022 Team vs. 2023 Team game on Sunday, July 31.
You know when you have nearly 100 teams flocking to the Boston area in the middle of July for hockey, you have something big going on.
The Chowder Cup series is back for another set of summer hockey weekends, and by the way, that 100 number is just for the first of three scheduled weekends.
The puck drops today on the Mini Chowder Cup, which has teams from the 2008 and 2009 birth-years dragging their gear into the Foxboro Sports Center for a four-day tournament.
Fifty-eight teams are playing in the ’08 classification, and 39 are playing in the ’09.
Next week, it’s the Junior Chowder Cup, with 80 teams coming for the ’06 birth year, and 88 coming for the ’07 class.
The Senior Chowder Cup breaks into two divisions — the Jr. A Division and the College Open Teams division. The Jr. A Division — which has 76 teams participating — allows for 2002 birth-year players through 2005 birth-year players. The College Open Division features 2003, 2004 and 2005 birth-years — and that one has 77 teams slated to partake.
These tournament teams are selects-based, created for this particular event; you won’t recognize any of the usual AAA winter squads or anything of the sort.
What is noticeable are the names on the scouting list and alumni from the Chowder Cup series. In the 2021 NHL Draft, 23 Chowder Cup alums were selected, including first-round picks Matty Beniers (No. 2 overall, Seattle) and Matt Coronato (No. 12 overall, Calgary).
In 2020, even more Chowder Cup alums were selected — 32 in total. Three of those were in the top 10 picks of the draft, in fact, as Quinton Byfield (No. 2 overall, Los Angeles), Jamie Drysdale (No. 6 overall, Anaheim) and Cole Perfetti (No. 10 overall, Winnipeg) had all made the trek to Boston to play in the Mini Chowder Cup as young hockey players. Byfield was the tournament MVP of the 2002 birth year in 2015 as he posted 12 points in six games to lead Rink Eye Selects to a title.
Also of note, all three of those guys are Canadian, which means the Chowder Cup has some border-crossing appeal.
More recently, Cole Eiserman — expected to be one of the stars of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (USNTDP) Under-17 Team next fall — was named to the all-tournament team of the Mini Chowder Cup in 2019. Current NTDP stand-out Will Smith was tournament MVP of the ‘05 birth-year in 2018.
With elite talent like that skating in the summer tournaments, it’s easy to see why the scouts show up in Massachusetts during golf season, too. According to the Chowder Cup’s website, scouts from the Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators and NHL Central Scouting will all be in attendance for the older groups, while a substantial collection of NCAA Division-I and Division-III coaches will be there as well.
Likewise, staff members from USHL, NAHL, NCDC, EHL, USPHL and NA3HL teams will be watching the Chowder Cup closely, as will a number of agencies and scouting services.
If you’re looking for exposure with Canadian junior programs, you get your wish at the Chowder Cup, too, as the OHL, QMJHL, OJHL, and AJHL are all represented.
World hockey Hub will have continued coverage of the Chowder Cup throughout the month. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube for updates!
You may not know it from the youth teams they are credited with on their various draft profiles, but three of the first 15 picks in this year’s NHL Draft grew up playing together.
While they ended up going their separate ways for the conclusion of their youth hockey careers, Cutter Gauthier, Frank Nazar and Rutger McGroarty spent a significant chunk of their youth hockey days dominating the Michigan AAA hockey scene with HoneyBaked 2004s.
If you check out the HoneyBaked 13U listing on Elite Prospects for the 2017-18 season, you’ll see the three players, now with NHL logos next to their name.
Gauthier, originally from Sweden before moving to Scottsdale, Ariz., and then to Metro Detroit, was the first of the trio of forwards off the board, selected at No. 5 overall by the Philadelphia Flyers.
Next was Nazar, the lone true Michigan native of the three, hailing from Mt. Clemens and set to become a Michigan Wolverine next season. He was chosen by the neighboring Chicago Blackhawks, who picked the quick-footed center at No. 14.
One pick later, the Winnipeg Jets claimed McGroarty, a native of Lincoln, Neb., at No. 15.
Few youth teams can boast that they had three top-15 NHL Draft picks on their roster at one time. The closest a fellow Michigan team has come of late is the Belle Tire ’96 squad, which saw Brendan Perlini and Dylan Larkin go No. 12 and No. 14, respectively, before teammates Zach Werenski and Kyle Connor were drafted a year later at No. 8 and No. 17, respectively.
So two of the three weren’t from Michigan, but they spent their formative years skating together in the Great Lakes State. In their 14U season, they opted for different paths – Gauthier made the jump all the way up to the HoneyBaked 16U team, while Nazar ventured over to Little Caesars for a season and played a leading role in a national championship run for the Detroit Red Wings’ affiliated youth franchise. McGroarty stayed at HoneyBaked, where he was joined by future Montreal Canadiens draftee Lane Hutson; the swift-skating defenseman ventured into Michigan for one year of AAA hockey before heading to the North Jersey Avalanche.
The next year, McGroarty ended up playing 15-Only for the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies, while Nazar returned to HoneyBaked for their 15-Only squad and Gauthier moved over to Compuware to skate for their 16U team. McGroarty posted a mind-boggling 160 points in 63 games at the 15-Only rule as his birth-year dealt with the new rule mandating players stay in their solo birth-year for the 15-Only AAA play. Gauthier, having already played up at 16U the year before, was grandfathered in.
Ironically, all three ended up back together again for a team in Metro Detroit in the fall of 2020 – this time for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. They were joined by Hutson and fellow HoneyBaked/Oakland Jr. Grizzlies alum Hunter Brzustewicz, who will be draft eligible in 2023.
After two seasons in the top-six of the NTDP forwards group, they continue the trend of Team USA pumping out high NHL Draft picks. Six NTDP products went in this year’s first round, while 14 NTDP players from this past season were selected. If you count up NTDP alums and other call-ups, a new record of 25 draftees was established for the Plymouth, Mich., based program.
Fresh off helping their men’s national team capture bronze in Beijing for Slovakia’s first Olympic medal in hockey, Juraj Slafkovsky was selected No. 1 overall and Simon Nemec was chosen right after him to make some history for their country’s hockey community. It was just the second time in NHL history that a country outside the U.S. or Canada produced the first two picks in the draft, and the only other time it’s happened was when Russians Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin went 1-2. Quite a duo to now be compared to for the two Slovakian stars.
Filip Mesar was selected at No. 26 overall, as well, putting three Slovakian born and trained players in the first round – a banner day for Slovakian hockey, to be sure.
As John Buccigross reported at the conclusion of Round 1, the 2022 NHL Draft’s opening night featured the most players born outside of North America in league history.
Sixteen of the 32 picks were of players born outside of the two countries in which the NHL operates, with representation coming from Slovakia, Czechia, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland.
At the WORLD Hockey Hub, that’s the kind of stat we like to see.
So how many of the major world-wide youth tournaments did the first-round picks participate in? Here’s a breakdown:
Ten of the first-rounders played in The Brick in Edmonton
Nine of the first-rounders participated in the at Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament
Seventeen played in a World Selects Invite spring tournament
Ten played in the Youth Olympic Games in 2019-2020, including Nazar, McGroarty, and fellow first-rounders and NTDP products Isaac Howard and Jimmy Snuggerud.
Here’s the pick-by-pick look at the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft:
No. 1 – Montreal – Juraj Slafkovsky – Left Wing – Kosice, Slovakia – TPS (Finland)
No. 2- New Jersey – Simon Nemec – Defenseman – Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia – HK Nitra (Slovakia)
No. 3 – Arizona – Logan Cooley – Center – Pittsburgh, Pa. – NTDP Under-18 Team (USHL)
No. 4 – Seattle – Shane Wright – Center – Burlington, Ont. – Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
No. 5 – Philadelphia – Cutter Gauthier – Left Wing/Center – Scottsdale, Ariz. – NTDP Under-18 Team (USHL)
No. 6 – Columbus – David Jiricek – Defenseman – Klatovy, Czechia – HC Plzen (Czechia)
No. 7 – Chicago – Kevin Korchinski – Defenseman – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
No. 8 – Detroit – Marco Kasper – Center – Innsbruck, Austria – Rogle BK (SHL)
No. 9 – Buffalo – Matthew Savoie – Center – St. Alberta, Alberta – Winnipeg ICE (WHL)
No. 10 – Anaheim – Pavel Mintyukov – Defenseman – Moska, Russia – Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
No. 11 – Arizona – Conor Geekie – Center – Strathclair, Manitoba – Winnipeg ICE (WHL)
No. 12 – Columbus – Denton Mateychuk – Defenseman – Winnipeg, Manitoba – Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)
No. 13 – Chicago – Frank Nazar – Center/Right Wing – Mt. Clemens, Mich. – NTDP Under-18 Team (USHL)
No. 14 – Winnipeg – Rutger McGroarty – Center/Right Wing – Lincoln, Neb. – NTDP Under-18 Team (USHL)
No. 15 – Vancouver – Jonathan Lekkerimaki – Right Wing – Huddinge, Sweden – Djurgardens IF (SHL)
No. 16 – Buffalo – Noah Ostlund – Center – Nykvarn, Sweden – Djurgardens IF (SHL)
No. 17 – Nashville – Joakim Kemell – Right Wing – Jyvaskylan, Finland – JYP (Liiga)
No. 18 – Dallas – Lian Bichsel – Defenseman – Olten, Switzerland – Leksands IF (SHL)
No. 19 – Minnesota – Liam Ohgren – Left Wing – Stockholm, Sweden – Djurgardens IF (SHL)
No. 20 – Washington – Ivan Miroshnichenko – Left Wing – Ussuriysk, Russia – Omskie Krylia (VHL)
No. 21 – Pittsburgh – Owen Pickering – Defenseman – St. Adolphe, Manitoba – Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
No. 22 – Anaheim – Nathan Gaucher – Center – Longueuil, Quebec – Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
No. 23 – St. Louis – Jimmy Snuggerud – Right Wing – Chaska, Minn. – NTDP Under-18 Team (USHL)
No. 24 – Minnesota – Danila Yurov – Right Wing – Chelyabinsk, Russia – Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL)
No. 25 – Chicago – Sam Rinzel – Defenseman – Chanhassen, Minn. – Chaska High (USHS – Minn) and Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
No. 26 – Montreal – Filip Mesar – Wing/Center – Spisska Bela, Slovakia – HK Poprad (Slovakia)
No. 27 – San Jose – Filip Bystedt – Center – Linkoping, Sweden – Linkoping HC (SHL)
No. 28 – Buffalo – Jiri Kulich – Center – Kadan, Czechia – Energie Karlovy Vary (Czechia)
No. 29 – Arizona – Maveric Lamoureux – Defenseman – Hawkesbury, Ont. – Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL)
No. 30 – Winnipeg – Brad Lambert – Center/Right Wing – Lahti, Finland – Pelicans (Liiga)
No. 31 – Tampa Bay – Isaac Howard – Left Wing – Hudson, Wisc. – NTDP Under-18 Team (USHL)
No. 32 – Edmonton – Reid Schaefer – Left Wing – Spruce Grove, Alberta – Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
While it’s still not completely back to normal, the 2022 NHL Draft will feature teams selecting players following the closest to a traditional hockey season we’ve seen since 2019.
The World Juniors will be played later this summer, but for the most part, the leagues that produce the majority of NHL draftees played full seasons, and the scouts had opportunities to get a good look at who they will be trying to select this week when the draft takes place in Montreal on Thursday.
So who will be the top players selected? There seems to be a pretty clear No. 1, and he’s been at the top of the draft board for quite a while.
All signs point to Shane Wright being the first on stage when the NHL Draft officially begins on July 7. The captain of the Kingston Frontenacs has been making headlines for the better part of a decade at this point, as he has dominated at every stage of youth and junior hockey.
Wright, a Burlington, Ont., native whose family was not familiar with the sport, got his start with his hometown hockey program. At the age of 12, it was clear that he needed more challenges and opportunities, so Shane and his father, Simon, moved to Vaughan. There, Shane could suit up for the Don Mills Flyers. He played against older competition every year he was with Don Mills, and yet he thrived, helping the Flyers to a GTHL U15 and Ontario Hockey Federation Bantam AAA championship in 2017-18 before an even bigger season in 2018-19.
That’s when Wright posted 150 points in 72 games to lead Don Mills to the OHL Cup — he led the field in scoring with 18 points and was named MVP of the iconic season-ending tournament. Along the way, he was named GTHL Player of the Year, and earned a silver medal at the Canada World Games. All of it was enough for him to earn the rare ‘exceptional status’ from the OHL, where the Kingston Frontenacs were able to select him No. 1 overall a year before his 2004 birth-year class was eligible for the junior league selection process.
Wright served as an assistant captain his first year in the ‘O’ despite his under-ager status, and he was named CHL Rookie of the Year after posting 66 points in 58 games. He and John Tavares are the only 15-year-olds to receive that award.
While the 2020-21 OHL season was cancelled, he still led Canada to gold in the IIHF World Under-18 Championship, and this season, he was awarded the CHL Top Draft Prospect Award after registering 94 points in 63 games.
There’s no clear No. 2 overall pick after Wright, but the next player to take a look at is Logan Cooley of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (USNTDP). Cooley is a product of Pittsburgh, Pa., and he owes Sidney Crosby a ‘thank you’ card whenever he reaches the NHL. In the first year of the Little Penguins program — started by Crosby and the Penguins in 2008 — Cooley was one of the initial participants.
Unlike Wright, he did grow up in a hockey family, however — Cooley’s two uncles played Division-I college hockey and coach high school hockey programs in the area — while Cooley’s older brother plays for Ohio State University. That was enough to keep Cooley at home during his formative youth hockey days, as he rose through the ranks with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite AAA program.
Cooley played for the Jr. Penguins at the Quebec International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament in 2016-17, and he played for the Upstate Kings in the World Selects Invitational in 2018-19. In the summer of 2019, he skated in the USA Hockey Select 15 Camp before playing up with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 16U team for the 2019-2020 season. There, he secured a spot with the NTDP Under-17 Team the following year. Quickly, he earned call-ups to the Under-18 Team, finishing his first season in the Plymouth, Mich., based program with 32 points in 28 games with the 17s and 14 points in 19 games with the 18s.
This past season, he registered 75 points in 51 games, finishing second on the NTDP in scoring behind only Isaac Howard, who had 82. Cooley also made the U.S. World Junior team that traveled to but didn’t end up completing the tournament due to its postponement.
A pair of Slovaks could make history on Thursday. Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nimec are both projected Top-5 picks according to several major news outlets, some of which even have Slafkovsky upending Wright for the No. 1 pick.
Slovakia has not produced a top-five selection since 2005, and have only produced four top-10 picks ever. If both Slafkovsky and Nimec are selected early as expected, it’d be the first time the European country — with a total population of just 5.5 million — produced multiple top-five picks.
Slafkovsky began playing youth hockey for HC Kosice in Slovakia. In 2018-19 though, he crossed the border into the Czech Republic to play for national powerhouse Mountfield HK for his U16 season. The next three seasons would be spent in Finland’s top junior league, SM-Sarja, with TPS.
An hour-and-a-half west, Nimec started his youth hockey career with HK32 Liptovsky Mikulas. Unlike Slafkovsky, Nimec stayed local, remaining in Slovakia and eventually playing in the country’s top professional league for the past two seasons with HK Nitra.
Both Slafkovsky and Nimec were important members of Team Slovakia in international competition at the 2021 under-20 World Junior Championships, 2022 Olympic Games and 2022 World Championships.
Turning attention back towards America for the next prospect, and this time, it’s a native of Scottsdale, Arizona, who was born in Sweden but played his formative years in Michigan. Cutter Gauthier, who was born in Skelleftea while his father, Sean, was wrapping up his career as a professional goaltender with Skellefteå AIK. The Gauthier family moved to Arizona when Cutter was 2, and by the time he was 10, they decided he needed to play for HoneyBaked in Metro Detroit to hone his craft as a talented young hockey player.
Gauthier played one year with the Compuware 16U team — it was the last year that Michigan players were allowed to skip the 15-only AAA age group and play up at 16U — and then made the NTDP to skate alongside Cooley and a talented ’04 American class. Along the way, he played for Team California at The Brick, then DraftDay Hockey for World Selects 12U, and Pro Hockey for WSI 14U and 15U. He also played for Team USA at the Youth Olympic Games, a team that made up the bulk of the NTDP group a few years later.
While it appears his draft stock is falling to some, talented forward Matthew Savoie is still one notable prospect worth mentioning as well. Born on Jan. 1, 2004, he has long been regarded as an top prospect in his birth year, despite his relatively small frame (Elite Prospects lists him at 5-foot-9 and 179 pounds).
Savoie got his start skating for his hometown St. Albert program in St. Albert, Alberta. After playing for the St. Albert Sabres U15 AAA in 2016-17, Savoie made the jump to the famed Canadian Sports School Hockey League (CSSHL) in 2017-18, playing for the Northern Alberta Xtreme U15 Prep team. It was there where he started to make his mark on the hockey world, as he posted 97 points in 30 games. The next season, skating for Northern Alberta Xtreme Prep in the CSSHL U18 division, Savoie posted 71 in 31.
He was the captain of the Team Brick Alberta squad for The Brick in 2013-14, and he played in three different WSIs with DraftDay Selects in 2015-16 and Western Canada Selects for 13U and 15U.
Savoie posted an impressive 18 points in six games at the John Reid Bantam tournament in 2017-18, and in 2019-2020 he also served as captain for Team Canada at the Youth Olympic Games.
The Winnipeg Ice used their first pick in franchise history to take Savoie No. 1 overall in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft. He had previously applied for exceptional status but was denied by the WHL. It was a bit of a surprise when the Ice still selected him because Savoie had previously given a verbal pledge to the University of Denver, where his brother Carter plays.
Savoie ended up playing in 22 games with the ICE in 2019-2020, registering seven points. He played for RINK Hockey Academy Prep in the CSSHL for 22 games, as well, and posted 52 points. In 2020-21, he played in 34 games with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, earning USHL All-Rookie Team honors after registering 38 points in 34 games.
Back with the Ice for 2021-22, Savoie posted 90 points in 65 WHL games to lead all rookies in scoring. He was named to the WHL First All-Star Team, as well.
World Hockey Hub will have extensive coverage of the 2022 NHL Draft through a youth hockey lens. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube for the latest youth hockey news at all levels of the game.
It may be summer, but it’s hard to keep hockey people away from the rink for too long.
There are major hockey events sprinkled across the “off-season” calendar, and the World Hockey Hub will be keeping an eye on them as we fly through the warmer months of 2022.
Here are some of the highlighted hockey events taking place in North America this summer:
What’s better than one Brick? Two Bricks. The organizers for the Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament have expanded the annual summer tournament to two birth years, in an effort to accommodate a birth year that missed out on the tournament last year because of COVID-19. The 2011 birth-year will play from June 29 to July 3, and the 2012 birth-year will play from July 4-10. The tournament — played in the West Edmonton Mall — is one of the most unique events in all of youth sports, and while the 2010 birth year never ended up being able to participate, it’s great to see the 2011 group not miss out on the remarkable experience.
It may be a holiday in America, but it’s a work day for one of Canada’s three Major Junior leagues. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) will start its annual draft on July 4, with the league setting aside two days to conduct its selection process of the 2006 birth-year class virtually.
The culminating event of youth hockey is the NHL Draft, where every summer the hockey world gets to experience dreams coming true for its best and brightest. The World Hockey Hub will be watching, as well, to see where the newest NHL Draft picks came from and how their youth hockey resumes shaped their journey to hockey’s highest league.
There are six different USA Hockey Player Development Camps, but the Boys Select 15 is the one that may have the most impact on top-level American talent. The first year of national camps for players progressing through the USA Hockey ranks, the Select 15 — held in Amherst, N.Y. — is the first big event of the year-long recruiting and evaluating process for the NTDP and junior league drafts.
The Chowder Cup — featuring a Mini, Junior and Senior divisions — brings top youth hockey talent to the Boston area for some impressive summer on-ice action. The Mini Chowder Cup features the 2008-09 classes on July 15-17, while the Junior Chowder Cup hosts the 2006-07s on July 21-24 and the Senior Chowder Cup for the 2002-05 groups on July 28-31.
It may not get as much publicity as the World Juniors (more on that below), but the Hlinka Gretzky Cup is a huge summer showcase to keep an eye on this year. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada use their summer player development camps as a tryout for the tournament, which will be taking place in Red Deer, Alberta this summer. It’s an Under-18 tournament that brings together elite players from across the globe heading into their NHL Draft year.
The Best of Best series, in its second season, aims to bring the best GTHL, Eastern OMHA, South-Central OMHA and ALLIANCE players together for elite hockey starting at the 2010 and 2011 birth-years. The idea is to bring the players in each summer, and in their fourth year through the program, play in a full OHL/NCAA showcase event.
One of the greatest events in all of sports will be a little warmer than usual, as the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship will be taking place Aug. 9-20 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. The original tournament, which usually closes out one calendar year and opens the next, was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns, but the hockey community is making sure it still takes place – this time in the dead of summer.
For the 2008 birth-year class in the United States, few events are as big as the CCM 68’s. Hosted in Chicago, the 68’s annually bring together the best players in the country, both boys and girls, for a weekend of on- and off-ice training and education. Alumni include Jack Hughes, Cole Caufield, Trevor Zegras, Spencer Knight, Jacob Trouba, Tyler Seguin, Matthew Tkachuk, Clayton Keller and more.
Stay up-to-date on everything coming up in the world of youth hockey by following WHH on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube!
What. A. Finish.
The 2021-22 USA Hockey season came to a close Monday, with national championship contests playing out across the country.
Chicago Mission prevailed in the 14U and 15O groupings, while the Bishop Kearney Selects won the 16U crown. The 18U crown went to Mount St. Charles. A breakdown of each age group’s championship run.
One vs. two, just like how the rankings drew it up.
No. 1 Shattuck-St. Mary’s and No. 2 Chicago Mission had been battling for top billing all season, and when it mattered most, the boys from Chicago got it done.
Cameron McKinney scored the lone goal in the third period as Mission erased a 2-0 deficit and beat Shattuck 3-2 for the 14U Tier 1 National Championship.
“We have men in the locker room. I really believe so,” Mission coach Christian Hmura told USA Hockey after the game. “They think like men, they act like men, both physically and mentally. They understand that a game is an entire game, not just a period or a couple shifts. I just think we were on a different level from the rest of the teams here this week.”
The victory — which came on home ice in Chicago — prevented SSM from defending its 14U crown. Chicago finishes the season with a 3-1 record against Shattuck; the SSM crew only had two other losses all year.
Mission, meanwhile, finishes the year with a 70-9-3 record. They dominated the 14U national tournament, finishing with a 6-0 record. Nothing was going to stop them reaching the finals, either. They allowed only five shots by the Northeast Wisconsin Jr. Gamblers in a 4-0 win on Sunday, and none of those came in the third period.
Jacob Borzecki led Mission in scoring with eight points in six games, while McKinney had seven and Jacob Hutchen had six.
Bjorn Bronas played in all six games for the green and black, racking up a 1.66 goals-against average, a .900 save percentage and one shutout.
There were plenty of other notable performances in the 14U division. Jack Hurtagh of Bishop Kearney led the tournament with 12 points in only five games; Jr. Gamblers’ Cullen Potter had 11 and Mount St. Charles’ Conrad Fondrk had 10.
Shattuck’s Harrison Boettiger finished with a .936 save percentage and 1.77 goals-against average in five games.
Just like with the 14s, Mission and Shattuck squared off in the 15-Only Tier 1 National Championship.
Same matchup, same result. The Mission 2006 squad is driving back home with the national title after a 4-1 victory over SSM.
Gustas Zemaitis scored twice, while Robert Bartell scored the go-ahead goal and Jake Merens added an empty-netter for Mission’s big win at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich., Monday afternoon.
Mission had 16 shots, while Shattuck had 43 – shot differential didn’t matter though, as goaltender Nicholas Kempf stymied Sabres shooters time and time again.
The boys from Chicago wrapped up a 6-0-0 run through the national tournament with the win, their second over SSM in Plymouth.
“It’s not an easy task to beat Shattuck twice in the same tournament,” head coach of Chicago Mission Michal Pivonka told USA Hockey. “I’m so proud of my guys, we had a rough ride with them early in the season but when we beat them in the round robin, they got it, it showed that we can take them on. I told them that we’ll probably see them in the final if we make it, and that’s what happened.”
Merens, Charles Pardue and Eero Butella all tied for the team scoring lead with 10 points apiece. Kempf, who played in five of the six games for Mission, finished with a remarkable .944 save percentage, 1.20 goals-against average and one shutout.
Shattuck’s Brodie Ziemer led the tournament in scoring with 11 points. Theo Kiss of Mount St. Charles had 10, while teammate James Hagens had nine, in only four games.
John Whipple of Shattuck led the blue liners in scoring, racking up eight points in six games.
It was an All-New York final in the 16U Tier 1 National Championship, and the Bishop Kearney Selects topped their in-state rivals the Long Island Gulls 4-1 for the ultimate bragging rights.
Jack Plandowski, Owen King and Brendan Boring scored to erase an early Gulls lead, while Paul Dalessio stopped 29 of the 30 shots sent his way in the title game, which took place in Rochester, Mich.
“I’ve never been so hype in my life,” King, the Selects’ captain, told USA Hockey. “This is just a surreal feeling, I can’t even believe it. I’m so happy for the team.”
The BK boys posted a perfect 6-0-0 record in the tournament, which included nailbiter one-goal wins over the Yale Jr. Bullodgs, Culver Academy and Chicago Mission in the semifinals.
Christian Humphreys and Matthew Lee tied for the team lead in scoring with seven points apiece; King was one back with six.
Dalessio started four of the games for the Selects and compiled a dominating .945 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average along the way. Counterpart Florian Wade excelled in his opportunities between the pipes, as well, as he recorded a .976 save percentage, a 0.50 goals-against average and one shutout in his two starts.
Two Mission forwards led the tournament in scoring – James Reeder had 12 points in five games, and Noah Powell had 10. Jamison Sluys of Long Island turned in eight points.
Championship season is nearing its end, and WHH will have continued coverage of youth hockey tournaments from around the globe! Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube for the latest news, updates and more!
Just like that, the preliminary rounds have concluded for USA Hockey’s 14U, 15-Only and 16U Tier-I National Championships. Let’s take a look at the remaining teams and Saturday’s match-ups for what will be a thrilling end to the youth hockey season in the U.S.
The projected quarterfinal matchups are as follows:
Pittsburgh Penguins Elite vs. Shattuck-St. Mary’s
Bishop Kearney Selects vs. Mount St. Charles
Northeast Wisconsin Jr. Gamblers vs. Mid-Fairfield Jr. Rangers
Dallas Stars Elite vs. Chicago Mission
No. 1-ranked Shattuck is on a mission to defend its national title, and they were perfect in the preliminary round after a 7-3 win over the Nashville Jr. Predators, a 3-2 win over the Jr. Gamblers and 3-0 win over the L.A. Jr. Kings. The Penguins beat Team North Dakota 12-2 and Compuware 10-4 but lost to Mid-Fairfield 7-3 on Friday.
Mount St. Charles took the top spot in the Liberty Division with wins over the Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars but a loss to Little Caesars. Bishop Kearney, meanwhile, checks in as the No. 2 seed in the NHL Division after wins over the Boston Jr. Eagles and California Golden Bears but a loss to Mission.
Mid-Fairfield was perfect in preliminary play after a 3-0 win over Compuware, a 4-3 win over North Dakota and a 7-3 win over the Penguins. The Gamblers, meanwhile, took care of the L.A. Jr. Kings and Nashville Jr. Predators but dropped their contest against Shattuck.
Mission has been thriving on home ice, with a 5-2 win over the California Golden Bears, a 2-1 win over the Boston Jr. Eagles and a 6-2 win over Bishop Kearney to give them a perfect 3-0 record. Dallas, meanwhile, emerges as the No. 2 seed from a Liberty Division that had three 2-1 teams – Mount St. Charles finished in the top spot, Dallas got the second, and Little Caesars did not advance.
Five players are tied for the scoring lead with eight points apiece – Pittsburgh’s Quinn McKenzie, Bishop Kearney’s Cooper Dennis, Mount St. Charles’ Conrad Fondrk, NEW Jr. Gamblers’ Cullen Potter and Pittsburgh’s John Mooney.
Bjorn Bronas has started all three games for Mission, and he has a .918 save percentage and 1.65 goals-against average. Micah Adams started all three games for Dallas, and he holds a .910 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average.
Let’s take a look at the quarterfinals for the 15O group:
Shattuck-St. Mary’s vs. Mount St. Charles
Bishop Kearney Selects vs. Little Caesars
Windy City Storm vs. Chicago Mission
Dallas Stars Elite vs. St. Louis AAA Blues
Talk about starting the elimination round with a bang. That’s a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in the very first quarterfinal tilt, with No. 1 Mount St. Charles squaring off with No. 2 Shattuck-St. Mary’s. The M’s played to a perfect 3-0 record in the preliminary round, starting with a 12-4 win over the Sioux Falls Power before beating the Windy City Storm 7-2 and Team Alaska 6-3. They emerge as the top seed out of the USA Division. Shattuck, meanwhile, exits the Olympic Division as the No. 2 seed, after finishing the round robin with a 2-1 record. Chicago Mission gave them a 6-3 loss Friday.
With that win, Mission – ranked No. 4 in the country – has a date with an in-state rival in the No. 7-ranked Windy City Storm. Mission posted a 4-0 blanking of the North Jersey Avalanche and an 8-2 win over the Minuteman Flames to dominate the Olympic Division; Windy City’s lone loss came to Mount St. Charles. They’re the No. 2 seed coming out of the USA Division.
Another top-five showdown will take place between No. 3 Little Caesars and No. 5 Bishop Kearney. Caesars led the Liberty Division with a 2-1 record – wins over the Dallas Stars Elite and the Nashville Jr. Predators but a blemish from a 5-4 overtime loss to the Cleveland Barons. The BK Selects finished No. 2 in the NHL Division, with wins over the L.A. Jr. Kings and St. Louis Blues, and a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite.
The final quarterfinal pits the Blues and the Dallas Stars. As noted above, Dallas’ lone loss came to Little Caesars, giving them the No. 2 spot in the Liberty Division. Meanwhile, the Blues finished in the top spot in the NHL Division; they had a loss but they won the tie-breaker with Bishop Kearney to earn the No. 1 seed.
Mount St. Charles players have dominated the scoring race, as Theo Kiss checks in at No. 1 with nine points, Joseph Monteiro is second with eight and James Hagens is right behind with seven. Shattuck’s Brodie Ziemer has eight points and John Galanek has seven. Evan Sofikitis of Little Caesars and John Whipple of Shattuck tie for the blueliner scoring lead, both at six points apiece.
Nashville netminder Calvin Gardner started all three games for the Jr. Preds and finished with a .912 save percentage and 1.94 goals-against average. Shattuck’s William Lubimov has two shutouts already. Connor Addington of the Dallas Stars has a .974 save percentage and 0.48 goals-against average in two games.
Here’s who we’ve got in the 16U quarterfinals:
Shattuck-St. Mary’s vs. Long Island Gulls
Yale Jr. Bulldogs vs. North Jersey Avalanche
Chicago Mission vs. New Jersey Rockets
Culver Academy vs. Bishop Kearney Selects
Just like in the 15s, a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown kicks off the elimination rounds. Shattuck, ranked No. 1 in the country, checks in as the No. 2 seed in the Olympic Division after they lost to the New Jersey Rockets 6-3 on Friday and had two one-goal games in their victories. The Gulls, meanwhile, are the top seed in the USA Division after posting a 4-2 win over Sioux Falls Power, a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh Penguins Elite and a 3-1 win over Chicago Mission.
The North Jersey Avalanche enter the postseason with the top spot in the Liberty Division, despite a 6-2 loss to Florida Alliance in between a pair of one-goal wins against Culver Academy and Compuware. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, won a three-way tiebreaker with the Arizona Jr. Coyotes and Boston Jr. Eagles for the No. 2 seed in the NHL Division after all three finished with 1-2 records.
The New Jersey Rockets finished with a 3-0 record in the Olympic Division, claiming the top seed and a date with Chicago Mission. Aside from the aforementioned win over Shattuck, the Rockets also took down the Anaheim Jr. Ducks and Mount St. Charles. Mission, meanwhile, had wins over Pittsburgh Penguins Elite and Sioux Falls Power but a loss to the Gulls.
Bishop Kearney posted a 2-1 win over the Yale Jr. Bulldogs, a 3-0 win over the Jr. Coyotes and a 6-2 win over the Boston Jr. Eagles en route to the No. 1 seed in the NHL Division. They will take on Culver Academy, which lost to North Jersey to start but rebounded with a 4-1 win over Compuware and 2-1 win over Florida Alliance.
There’s a five-way tie for the scoring lead at 16U – Mission’s James Reeder, Compuware’s Jaden Johnson, New Jersey’s Kamil Bednarik, Anaheim’s Ty Henricks and New Jersey’s Matthew Desiderio all finished preliminary round with six points apiece.
Bishop Kearney’s Paul Dalessio has a .957 save percentage and 1.44 goals-against average in two games; Yale’s Aiden Hopewell has the same goals-against with a .947 save percentage in the same amount of crease time.
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The Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) is Western Canada’s premier youth hockey league. It’s where countless Western Hockey League (WHL) and NCAA prospects develop before being drafted and making college commitments. With 26 schools and academies across eight Canadian provinces, the CSSHL is one of the most premier leagues in all of youth hockey.
Western championships concluded over the weekend, as a group of teams emerged victorious out of a deep field of talent. Action included a total of 94 teams skating across eight divisions, and only a few could be named top dogs of the 2021-22 season.
The U15 groups featured a pair of firsts for the growing league. Delta Hockey Academy won its first-ever U15 Prep Western Championship with their 7-3 win over RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna on March 15.
Damian Kravcak posted a hat trick and an assist for Delta in the championship tilt, while teammate Chase Harrington logged two goals and four assists when it mattered most. Goaltender Armaan Kaila stopped 40 of the 43 shots sent his way.
The victory wrapped up a perfect 5-0 playoff performance for Delta; they beat Burnaby Winter Club 5-1, Pacific Coast Academy 1-0, RINK Winnipeg 4-1 and Edge School 5-4 before taking on RINK Kelowna in the title bout.
The leading scorers in the U15 Prep division didn’t reach the final. Noah Kosick of Pacific Coast Hockey Academy had a whopping 96 total points in 29 games, while Cole Reschny of Northern Alberta Xtreme had 92 in only 25 games. Graham Jones of RINK Winnipeg had 81 to round out the top three.
Reese Hamilton of NAX led all defensemen in scoring over the course of the season, racking up 54 points in 27 games.
Ryan Grout of NAX led in all of the major goaltending categories, turning in a 17-0-0 record, a 1.53 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and four shutouts on the season.
For the third time in a row, Northern Alberta Xtreme captured the U16 Prep Western Championship.
This time around, they took down Edge School 7-2 in the final, thanks in large part to a two-goal, one-assist effort from Brock Souch and a one-goal, three-assist outing from Owen Berge.
Spencer Michnik stopped 27 of the 29 shots sent his way, which helped NAX keep the league’s two leading scorers – Terik Parascak (98 points in 34 games) and Miles Cooper (82 points in 33 games) to one assist total.
Berge led NAX in scoring over the course of the season, tying for third in the CSSHL with Ty Gordon of OHA Edmonton at 63 points total.
Hyde Davidson of NAX led all defensemen in league scoring with 36 points in 34 games.
Michnik registered some of the best numbers for goaltenders in the U16 age group, as he finished with a 15-3-0 record, a 1.58 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and four shutouts.
NAX was impressive from start to finish in the postseason. They first beat Pacific Coast Academy 6-1 before topping Burnaby Winter Club 5-3, RINK Winnipeg 7-2 and RINK Kelowna 7-3 before the final showdown with Edge.
Delta Hockey Academy turned in a dominating performance in the U17 Prep Western Championship, beating St. George’s School by a score of 9-3.
Dominating is a good way to describe Delta’s sprint through the playoffs; the title game was the first postseason outing where they didn’t break double digits. Delta beat International 17-2, Okanagan White 17-3, Pilot Mound 10-3 and Okanagan Black 13-2 before seeing St. George’s in the final.
Miguel Marques registered two goals and two assists for Delta in the final. Those totals shouldn’t be a surprise; Marques led the league in scoring with a remarkable 116 points in 31 games.
Delta’s Jordan Gavin was just behind his teammate in league scoring, checking in at No. 2 with 105 points in 28 games. In fact, Delta forwards held the top three spots in the scoring race, as Tomas Mrsic had 98 points in 28 games.
Colton Roberts, meanwhile, had nine goals and 36 assists for 45 points in 31 games to lead all defensemen in scoring for Delta.
Delta’s goaltenders dominated the stats page, too. Noah Stenvig, who recorded 12 saves on 15 shots in the final, finished with a 2.32 goals-against average on the season. The only goaltender with a better mark there was teammate Darian Moberly, who had a 2.05 goals-against. The duo had only two regulation losses between them in the 2021-22 campaign.
The only goaltender to have a better save percentage than the Delta boys was Gabe Bergeron of Edge – he had a .921 save percentage, along with a 14-3-0 record, a 2.54 goals-against average and two shutouts.
BWC Academy captured their first CSSHL U18 Prep Western Championship on March 20, beating Edge School in the final by a score of 6-3.
The win capped a perfect 5-0 run through the postseason for BWC.
In the final, the club demonstrated balanced scoring, as six different players found the back of the net. Charlie Tritt stopped 30 of the 33 shots sent his way to pick up the win between the pipes.
Luca Primerano led BWC in scoring with 58 points in 35 games over the course of the 2021-22 season.
It’s championship season across the world of youth hockey! From CSSHL championships to USA Hockey Nationals, Russia and Sweden national tournaments and more, WHH has got you covered on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube!
There’s one high school hockey tournament that captures the world’s attention.
You know the one.
The 2022 Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament played out in front of packed crowds at the Minnesota Wild’s Xcel Energy Center, with Hermantown High School capturing the 1A title and Andover High School capturing the 2A title.
The two schools earned state-wide bragging rights on March 12, with Hermantown taking on Warroad High School at noon, and Andover battling Maple Grove High School at 7 p.m.
Schools in Minnesota are split into two divisions — 1A and 2A, as noted above — based upon enrollment and geography, as determined by the Minnesota State High School League.
Plante Leads Hermantown
Every two years, they re-adjust their classifications to maximize competitive balance.
Junior forward Zam Plante — ranked No. 40 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting heading into this summer’s NHL Draft — led his Hermantown squad to victory with a pair of goals in a 3-2 win.
It was a family affair for the Plante family; Zam’s brother, Max Plante, is a sophomore who skates on the same line as his older sibling. The duo — sons of former NHLer Derek Plante — grew up watching their grandfather, Bruce Plante, routinely lead Hermantown to state finals appearances. It took a while for grandpa’s teams to prevail; Hermantown finally won titles in 2016 and 2017 in Bruce’s final two seasons.
“I’ve been watching it since I can remember, since my grandpa was coaching,” Zam Plante said via the MN Boys’ Hockey Hub. “Second place, second place, finally got two at the end. And to finally get to do it myself is the best feeling in the world.”
Plante, who has been splitting seasons between Minnesota High School Hockey and the USHL, racked up 61 points in 22 games this season with Hermantown, despite missing time with an injury.
Hermantown only lost two games all season, both coming to Class 2A schools that reached the state tournament in Cretin-Derham Hall and Maple Grove.
Dane Callaway led the way between the pipes for Hermantown, stopping 19 of the 21 shots sent his way. On the season, he recorded a 20-2-0 record, with a 1.47 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and five shutouts.
The victory wrapped up a dominating postseason for Hermantown; the Hawks won their three Section 7A games 13-0, 6-0 and 11-0 to secure their spot at Xcel Energy Center. There, they posted a 5-1 win in the Class A quarterfinal and a 7-1 win in the semifinal before Saturday’s championship bout.
I’m case you missed it- Andover wins Minnesota state high school hockey championship. Game winning goal here:@spittinchiclets pic.twitter.com/va1wufVL1H
— Mitch Bauer (@TheBauerOur) March 13, 2022
Andover’s OT Thriller
The 2A title game, played in front of 18,950 fans, was a Saturday night thriller that needed two overtimes to decide a winner.
There, in that second extra period, senior forward Logan Gravink scored the biggest goal of the weekend, giving Andover a state title in a 6-5 double overtime win over Maple Grove.
“Lou Nanne came and talked to the boys and said this was the best hockey game he’s seen since 1969,” said Andover coach Mark Manney; Nanne has been the state tournament analyst since 1964. “It was fun on the bench and probably a great game to play in. Fortunately, we got the bounce and Logan finished it for us.”
Junior Gavyn Thoreson had quite the memorable goal, as well, as he forced OT by tying the game 5-5 with 1:50 left in regulation. Thoreson led Andover in scoring on the season, as he racked up 29 goals and 74 total points.
Austin Brauns was the leader from the crease for Andover throughout 2021-22 — he finished with a 22-5-1 record, 1.78 goals-against average, .929 save percentage and five shutouts.
Josh Giuliani did everything he could for Maple Grove; the senior forward scored a hat trick in the title game, a day after scoring a hat trick in the semifinals.
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