It’s Week 17 of the 2022-23 North American hockey season, and as non-legue tournament play starts to wind down with a few remaining big events, many teams are jumping back into league play as we officially enter the stretch run toward league, state, district, regional and national tournaments and playoffs. That’s right, it won’t be long before we are announcing the qualifiers for national-championship tournaments in the United States and Canada.

We provide a mix of tournament and league play as part of our Week 17 Games of the Week. Our marquee matchup is a showdown between the top-two USA Boys 18U Tier 1 teams as the Prep Hockey Conference gets back to league play in Detroit. We also highlight matchups of highly ranked 19U and 16U USA Tier 1 Girls teams at the Jr. Flyers Showcase outside of Philadelphia as well as a showdown between 18U Ontario Boys top-18 clubs from the Steve Richey Memorial Tournament of Champions in Peterborough.

This weekend’s Prep Hockey Conference (PHC) league slate at the Belfor Training Center in Detroit includes top-ranked, school-affiliated prep and 18U teams from the U.S. and Canada. Competing teams include:

South Kent School Selects Academy – #16 USA 18U Overall

Culver Academy – #3 USA 18U National Bound Tier 1, #3 USA Independent Prep, #6 USA 18U Overall #6

Northwood School – #4 USA Independent Prep, #14 USA 18U Overall

St. Andrew’s College – #1 Canada Prep

Mount St. Charles – #2 USA 18U National Bound Tier 1, #4 USA 18U Overall

Shattuck-St. Mary’s – #1 USA 18U National Bound Tier 1, #1 USA 18U Overall, #1 USA Independent Prep

 

Our highlighted PHC game of the weekend is Friday’s USA Tier 1 No. 1 vs. No. 2 tilt between Shattuck and Mount St. Charles, but the weekend in Detroit is chock full of great matchups, including a 2 vs. 3 showdown between Mount St. Charles and Culver and a huge border-battle between MSC and St. Andrew’s. CLICK HERE for the full weekend schedule.

 

Next, we head East to the Jr.Flyers Showcase for an event that includes four of the top-27 USA Girls Tier 1 16U teams as well as four top-13 USA Girls 19U clubs. The 16U event includes the No. 11 Bishop Kearney Selects, No. 16 North American Hockey Academy, the No. 18 Jr. Flyers and the No. 27 Rome Grizzlies. On the 19U side, competing teams include the No. 2 BK Selects, No. 5 Jr. Flyers, No. 10 NAHA and No. 13 Northwood School.

 

Finally, we shoot north of the border for the Steve Richey Memorial Tournament of Champions in Peterborough, Ontario, a tournament that features seven of Ontario’s top-26 18U AAA Boys teams and 10 of the province’s top-27 16U clubs. Our featured game from Peterborough is 18U matchup Saturday morning between the No. 12 Soo Jr. Greyhounds and the No. 18 Toronto Titans.

 

Week 17 MHR/LiveBarn Featured Games of the Week  

#1 Shattuck-St. Mary’s vs. #2 Mount St. Charles

Level: USA Boys 18U Tier 1

Date: Friday, January 20

Time: 5:00 p.m. ET

Location: Belfor Training Center – Detroit, Mich.

Event: Prep Hockey Conference Regular Season

The top-two USA 18U Tier 1 National Bound teams and the two PHC division leaders square off in one of the biggest pre-Nationals tilts of the year Friday in Detroit. Shattuck sits atop the PHC West Division standings with a 6-3-0 league mark and 18 standings points, two points ahead of second-place Culver Academy (5-4-0, 16 points) and 11 in front of St. Andrew’s College (3-4-0, 7 points). St. Andrew’s has played two fewer games than that other two West Division teams. MSC leads the East Division by 12 points over South Kent at 7-1-0 and by 17 over winless Northwood. Overall, Shattuck brings a 23-5-2 record into the weekend, and the Sabres have outscored their opponents, 143-67. They are allowing just 2.23 goals per game while scoring at a 4.77 goals-per-game clip. MSC is 28-8-2 overall and has outscored its foes, 147-84. They are averaging 3.87 goals scored per contest while surrendering 2.21. These two teams met previously on Nov. 13, with Mount St. Charles posting a 5-3 victory. MSC sprinted to a 3-0 first-period lead in that contest and led 4-1 late in the second period before Shattuck mounted a comeback that was put to rest by Anthony Cardilli’s empty-net goal. Thomas Neu scored twice that day for Mount St. Charles, with Nick Metelkin and Patrick Murphy also tallying. Murphy and Metelkin added assists, and Cody Butikis turned aside 47 SSM shots in a heroic effort to earn the win in goal. Shattuck has won five of its last six games and 11 of its last 14 entering the weekend. MSC is 4-4-0 in its last eight contests on the heels of an eight-game winning streak.

 

#2 Bishop Kearney Selects vs. #5 Philadelphia Jr. Flyers

Level: USA Girls 19U Tier 1

Date: Saturday, January 21

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

Location: Ice Line – West Chester, Pa.

Event: Jr. Flyers Showcase

Stream: LiveBarn 

A top-five 19U Tier 1 USA Girls showdown is the highlight of the Jr. Flyers Showcase in West Chester, Pa. Bishop Kearney brings a 33-6-4 overall record and holds a 151-41 scoring advantage over its opponents heading into the weekend. The Selects have held their opponents to an eye-popping 0.95 goals per contest while scoring 3.51 goals per outing. They have recorded 19 shutouts and held 34 opponents to one goal or fewer. These two teams met just last weekend in Florida, with the Jr. Flyers skating to a 3-1 victory, and BK has dropped its last two games heading into the showcase. The other loss was a 5-3 setback vs. No. 11 Little Caesars. Prior to that, the Selects had won four-straight games without surrendering a goal and had allowed just four goals in winning their previous eight outings. The Jr. Flyers also beat BK, 1-0, Nov. 6. Philadelphia boasts a 41-10-1 record entering the weekend and has outscored its opponents, 194-66. The Jr. Flyers have scored 3.73 goals per game while allowing just 1.26 per contest. They have won eight-straight games, allowing just four goals during that stretch, dating to a 6-1 loss to No. 10 North American Hockey Academy Jan. 6. Philly rallied to beat NAHA, 1-0, in a shootout Jan. 13. The Jr. Flyers have recorded 18 shutouts and held 34 opponents to one goal or fewer. In last weekend’s game between these two teams, the Jr. Flyers sprinted to a 2-0 lead on a pair of unassisted goals by former Team USA 18U player and Wisconsin-commit Laney Potter before Princeton-commit Angelina Digirolamo cut the margin to 2-1 with 3:39 in the game. Holy Cross-commit Eden Granley netted the insurance goal for Philadelphia 1:14 later, and Mattie Robitzer turned aside 17 BK shots to pick up the win in goal.

 

#16 North American Hockey Academy vs. #27 Rome Grizzlies

Level: USA Girls 16U Tier 1

Date: Saturday, December 21

Time: 8:45 p.m. ET

Location: Ice Line – West Chester, Pa.

Event: Jr. Flyers Showcase

Stream: LiveBarn 

Two top-27 USA Girls Tier 1 16U teams face off Saturday at the Jr. Flyers Showcase outside of Philadelphia. NAHA brings a 19-20-4 record to the showcase, while Rome is 30-24-7 and has outscored its opponents, 134-122. These two teams met Nov. 19, with NAHA skating to a 3-1 victory, but Rome took the rematch, 3-2 in overtime, Jan. 8. Rome has played the other two teams in the showcase a total of seven times, dropping five contests against Bishop Kearney will pushing the Jr. Flyers to the brink in a pair of one-goal losses. The Grizzlies defeated the No. 7 Chicago Mission, 3-2 in OT, Jan. 7 and the No. 13 Massachusetts Spitfires, 2-1, Dec. 29. Like Rome, NAHA has played an ambitious schedule and is on a four-game losing skid entering the weekend, but those losses have come against the Nos. 9, 6, 11 and 14 teams. Prior to that stretch, the Hawks knocked off the No. 18 Jr. Flyers, 1-0 and tied No. 3 Shattuck-St. Mary’s, 2-2. They also beat the Jr. Flyers, 2-1, Dec. 16. They are in the midst of a 2-11-1 stretch that has included games against 12 top-18 USA teams and Canada’s top-ranked Fraser Valley Rush. NAHA dropped a 3-1 decision to the Rush Dec. 4 and lost a pair of one-goal games against No. 3 Assabet Valley and the No. 2 East Coast Wizards the week before that. Those games were preceded by wins over the Nos. 23 and 28 teams. NAHA was 17-9-3 prior to this recent extremely challenging slate of games.

 

#12 Soo Jr. Greyhounds vs. #18 Toronto Titans

Level: USA Canada Boys 18U AAA

Date: Sunday, December 21

Time: 9:45 a.m. ET

Location: Kinsmen Arena – Peterborough, Ontario 

Event: Steve Richey Memorial Tournament of Champions

One of the top pool-play matchups of the Steve Richey Tournament features the No. 12 Greyhounds taking on the No. 18 Titans in Peterborough. Soo has a 26-9-5 record and holds a 143-76 scoring advantage against its opponents. The Greyhounds have won eight of their last 10 contests and are 11-3-1 in their last 14. They tied the No. 5 Barrie Colts, 1-1, Dec. 9 and the No. 1 Toronto Jr. Canadiens, 2-2, Oct. 15. Toronto is 26-14-5 and holds a 141-105 scoring advantage vs. its foes. The Titans are 6-2-0 in their last eight outings and 12-5-0 in their last 17. They preceded that stretch with an eight-game unbeaten streak. Toronto beat the No. 9 North York Rangers, 3-2, Jan. 7 and the No. 10 Toronto Marlboros, 3-0, Nov. 26. This will be the first time these two teams have met this season.