Day 5 and Tournament Wrap-Up from USA Hockey's National Championships in Amherst NY
Four different USA Hockey districts each one one National Championship at the Peewee & Bantam levels (those covered by MYHockey during the 2006-07 season). At the Midget level Michigan and Minnkota each took two titles at the finals in Fraser Michigan. Throw in the Girls and you have championships for Pacific, Central, Minnkota and Massachusetts. Shattuck-St Mary's (SSM) continues to show they are the tops at the older levels winning the Midget 18U Boys Tier I and the Girls 19U. While that may show you that this program develops the talent they recruit, just as much credit must be given to those programs that got those kids a good start, good enough to be recruited by SSM.
Some final, random thoughts from Buffalo. While I thought there were some areas that need to be address for next year's Midget tournament, the Amherst Youth Hockey Association did an excellent job hosting the event. Kudos! I'd like to thank the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, home of the original buffalo chicken wings, for not only great wings, but also excellent pizza. McMahon's Family Restaurant on Grand Island, just north of Buffalo, has to have some of the best home cooking I've ever had in my life. I had a few too many #8's for breakfast and the Friday night fish dinner is awesome. It's not all-you-can-eat, because you can't eat what they serve you. Niagara Falls is worth the side trip to those of us who hadn't seen it before. What I didn't know was that Niagara Falls on the Canadian side is as touristy as Gatlinburg, Wisconsin Dells, Branson or Daytona Beach.
After attending a couple games at last year's Peewee Tier II National Championships, I thought I knew what to expect. I didn't! Participating and visiting are two different things. While I wouldn't be surprised if Fort Wayne's final drew more fans, Buffalo was definitely an excellent location and provided for an excellent atmosphere to culminate a season's worth of hard work. Once again, congratulations to the winners, but also congrats to those who went home without hardware as well. These kids will remember this event for the rest of their lives, and so will most of the parents.
