After more than two months, hundreds of thousands of views, tens of thousands of votes and 31 matchups we have our MYHockeyRankings Play of the Year. 

Congratulations to Aaden Wilsey, whose “goalie goal” was voted the outstanding play of the 2022-23 season by MHR’s social media community last week. On the winning play, Wilsey left his crease and intercepted a puck that had been dumped in below the goal line before firing it the length of the ice into an empty net. 

A native of Whitesboro, N.Y., Wilsey played for the Syracuse Nationals 2008 AAA team last season. He defeated an acrobatic “belly-slide goal” by Drew Travers of the 14U Elite Development Program AAA Spiders in Ohio to win the contest. Travers is from Columbus, Ohio. 

Travers raced nearly the length of the ice on his goal. He was upended as he cut toward the net from inside the blue line but still managed to fire the puck past the goalie while sliding on his stomach and before crashing into the goal.

More than 1,300 votes were recorded for the finals, with the outcome being decided by just 14 votes, 673-659. That was the most votes recorded in any of the contest’s 31 matchups.

Wilsey’s Play of the Year “goalie goal” can be viewed by clicking here. Both finalist’s plays can be seen by clicking here.

Wilsey advanced to the championship by defeating Connor Brown of Texas Outlaws 12U in the semifinals, capturing 58 percent of the votes to win by a 163-119 margin. Brown’s play saw him strip the puck from an opponent in the corner before splitting the defense and beating the goalie with a smooth deke.

Wilsey’s “goalie goal” zipped into the semifinals by wide voting margins over Alicia Thompson from Grand River Mustangs U18, Brody Ringstrom of Arizona Hockey Union 12U and Lana Hardin from Assabet Valley 14U.

Travers advanced to the finals by overcoming Jayden Dyke’s beautiful end-to-end rush in which he turned around a pair of defensemen with a slick move, putting the puck between the legs of one defender, before beating the goalie from close range. Dyke, who played for California Golden Bears ’09, had defeated teammate Bryan Aquino Jr. in the quarterfinals. Travers captured 51 percent of the votes in the semis, winning by a margin of 273-261.

To get to the semifinals, Travers defeated Dani Beck of San Jose Jr. Sharks 14U, 64 percent to 36 percent; Karl Warren from Rochester Coalition ’09, 54-46; and the third overall seed, a no-look, between-the-legs feed from Jack Cassidy to Andrew Marone, 54-46, to advance to the final four.   

Wilsey’s play was the contest’s top seed, while Travers entered the competition seeded third.

The inaugural MHR Play of the Year Contest featured 26 plays that either earned MHR Play of the Week recognition or were Play of the Week finalists during 2022-23 hockey season. Six “wildcard” entries submitted after the season were added to round out the field of 32 before the contest began in early June.

MHR’s 2023-24 season officially begins Aug. 15. The first set of rankings will be posted no earlier than Sept. 20. Any sanctioned games played after Aug. 15 can be submitted to MHR’s system to count toward a team’s ’23-24 ranking.