MYHockey News
Week 9 MHR Games of the Week
As American Thanksgiving approaches, it can only mean one thing: The North American youth hockey holiday tournament season is closing in on us as well.
While we’ve been treated to some large high-level tournaments such as the Beantown Classic and CCM World Invite for top AA and AAA boys and girls teams in recent weeks, those events really just are the tip of the iceberg as the holidays approach.
Thanksgiving in the United States is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, and that extends to the youth hockey community as teams of all age and skill levels hop in the family SUVs and head out of town to compete in tournaments all over the country. And from Thanksgiving all the way through December and into the New Year, it’s a safe bet that there will be at least one big holiday tournament taking place each weekend somewhere in North America.
So we are still a week away from the craziness the holiday season brings, but that doesn’t meanthere aren’t some great hockey events going on this weekend on both sides of the border.
In the United States, one of the top 18U AAA leagues in the continent holds its first full weekend of play as the Prep Hockey Conference’s six teams descend upon Warrior Arena in downtown Boston and Harvards’s Bright-Landry Hockey Center to tangle from Saturday through Monday.
The PHC is a six-team league divided into and East and West divisions.
PHC’s East Division includes traditional U.S. national-championship contender Mount St. Charles, currently the 14th-ranked USA Boys Tier 1 National Bound and No. 1 USA Boys Independent Prep team; South Kent School, the No. 25 overall USA Boys 18U Tier 1 team; and Northwood School, the 13th-ranked overall USA Boys 18U Tier 1 and No. 3 USA Boys Independent Prep team.
Canada’s No.1 Boys Prep team, St. Andrews College, is joined by Shattuck-St. Mary’s and Culver Academies, the Nos. 1 and 3 National Bound Tier 1 Boys teams in the U.S., in the West Division. Shattuck and Culver also are ranked first and second among USA Boys Independent Prep teams.
All six PHC member clubs will be in Boston’s for this weekend’s event, which provides one of our MHR Week 9 Games of the Week. In early December, Shattuck-St. Mary’s will travel to Aurora, Ontario, to take on St. Andrew’s College in a two-game series between the top-ranked Boys Prep programs in the U.S. and Canada.
The PHC began play for the 2021-22 season with the goal of establishing itself as the “premier prep hockey league in North America by setting the highest standards for competitiveness and maintaining a level of institutional investment that demonstrates a significant commitment to its hockey programs and facilities.”
Entering its third season of play, the PHC has produced the last two USA Hockey 18U Tier 1 Youth National Champions, with Mount St. Charles winning in 2022 and Shattuck-St. Mary’s capturing the 2023 title. It also consistently has been ranked as the top league in the U.S. by MHR during that period.
Another of our Week 8 Games of the Week comes from the Barrie Sharkfest, a tournament being hosted by the Barrie Women’s Hockey Association in Ontario that includes some of Canada’s top U13 Tier 1 Girls teams along with teams competing in 14 other age groups from Friday through Sunday.
And our final two Games of the Week are taking place as part of the Alliance AAA Faceoff, which is being held Friday through Sunday in Windsor, Ontario.
About Games of the Week
Games of the Week previews will be posted every Thursday, Friday or Saturday through the end of the regular season. Game summaries, along with occasional video highlights, will be posted no later than Wednesday of the following week.
With more than 20,000 teams in our database by season’s end, it’s impossible to be aware of all the great games that are scheduled throughout North America each week, so if you know of any upcoming games between highly ranked teams please feel free to email the details a week in advance if possible to scott@myhockeyrankings.com.
Include in your email:
- Team names, location, league affiliations and age group
- Current team rankings (national, state, provincial, etc.)
- Day, time and location of the game or games
- Any other details – past history, statistical info/team leaders, college commitments playing or other interesting information
- Quotes from players or coaches are great, too, but not required
- If the game or games are available on LiveBarn or via another streaming service, please send the link
We will be partnering with Clanko Media throughout the season to bring our readers and followers video highlights of selected Games of the Week, and we also are open to posting highlights of any other games we feature if someone can provide them for us.
Here is a closer look at our Week 0 featured matchups:
MHR WEEK 9 GAMES OF THE WEEK
USA Boys 18U Tier 1
#3 T1 National Bound/#6 T1 Overall/#2 Ind. Prep
Culver Academies
vs.
#13 T1 Overall/#3 Ind. Prep
Northwood School
Sunday, November 19 at 6:30 p.m. EST
Warrior Arena – Boston, Mass.
This matchup features two of the USA’s top-13 overall Tier 1 18U Boys and two of the top-three USA Boys Independent Prep teams facing off in a Prep Hockey Conference contest. Northwood already is 4-0-0 in league play, while Culver will be competing in its first league games of the 2023-24 campaign. Northwood knocked off No. 14 Tier 1 National Bound Mount St. Charles, 4-1 and 5-1, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 along with #25 Overall South Kent School, 2-1 and 3-1, Oct. 28 and 29. Shane Tronoski led the way for Northwood in those contests, recording 4 goals and 2 assists, with Ritter Coombs (0-5-5) and Samuel Lyne (2-3-5) adding five points apiece. Northwood is 17-3-0 overall and has outscored its opponents, 77-22. They also beat South Kent, 3-1, Oct. 15 and split a pair of games vs. Canada Boys Prep No. 9 Stanstead College Oct 5-6. Their other two losses came against No. 37 Tier 1 National Bound Top Gun Prep and No. 5 USA Independent Boys Prep Nichols School. Culver enters league play with a 10-1-1 overall record and having outscored its opponents, 45-16. Their only loss was a 2-0 setback against No. 10 Tier 1 National Bound Victory Honda Oct. 29, a day after defeating them, 5-3. They also beat the No. 15 Tier 1 National Bound Chicago Reapers and No. 25 Chicago Mission as well as No. 21 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite.
Canada Girls U13 Tier 1
#2 Sudbury Lady Wolves vs. #10 Barrie Sharks
Saturday, November 18 at 8:30 a.m. EST
Peggy Hill Team Community Centre – Barrie, Ontario
It’s an opening-round clash of top-10 Canada Girls U13 AA foes early Saturday morning at the Barrie Sharkfest, with the 10th-ranked host Barrie Sharks taking on the second-ranked Sudbury Lady Wolves. Sudbury brought a sparkling 17-1-3 record into the weekend and had outscored its opponents, 84-20. The Lady Wolves beat the Sharks, 3-2, Sept. 17, and the two teams skated to 1-1 and 3-3 ties Oct. 27 and 28. They played again Nov. 5, with Sudbury recording a 5-0 shutout. The Lady Wolves entered Sharkfest in the midst of a five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2) dating to a 3-2 loss to the top-ranked Markham-Stouffville Stars Oct. 22. They tied the Stars, 2-2, the previous day, and have recorded 11 shutouts on the season. The Sharks brought a 4-6-6 record into the tourney and had been outscored, 39-36. They were 2-3-3 in their previous eight outings, including a 4-0 loss to top-ranked Markham-Stouffville.
Ontario Boys U18 AAA
#4 Waterloo Wolves vs. #14 Lambton Jr. Sting
Saturday, November 18 at 12:00 p.m. EST
Central Park Athletics – Windsor, Ontario
The Sting look for an opening-round upset of the fourth-ranked Wolves at the Alliance AAA Faceoff Saturday in Windsor. These teams met previously on Oct. 7, with Waterloo posting a 4-2 victory. Reed Straus earned the win in goal that day, getting offensive support from goal-scorers Luke Schofield, Rhys McCloskey, Matthew Darrigan and Jordan Visneskie after Carter Fogarty had staked the Sting to a 2-1 lead through two periods with a pair of goals. Waterloo entered the weekend at 20-5-1 and having outscored its opponents, 100-49. The Wolves were 10-1-0 in their previous 11 outings, with the loss coming against the No. 15 Windsor Jr. Spitfires, who also are playing this weekend. Prior to the current streak, Waterloo dropped a 3-1 decision to the No. 8 Elgin-Middlesex Canucks, another team competing at the Alliance Faceoff, Oct. 27. The Wolves knocked off the top-ranked Ajax-Pickering Raiders, 5-3, Nov. 5 and also have wins over Ontario’s Nos. 15, 9 and 21 teams. They lost three-straight games Oct. 22-28 but responded with nine-consecutive victories. Lambton came into the weekend with a record of 12-4-0 and having outscored its opponents, 67-45. The Sting won their last two games in overtime and a shootout, 4-3 and 3-2, vs. the No. 48 Brantford 99ers and No. 33 Huron-Perth Lakes and entered the weekend on a three-game winning streak since falling to the No. 36 Upper Canada Cyclones and No. 12 Guelph Gryphons Oct. 28 and 29. Lambton went 9-1-0 after opening the season 2-2-0 and owns a 6-1 victory over the No. 8 Elgin-Middlesex Canucks to its credit.
Ontario Boys U18 AAA
#8 Elgin-Middlesex Canucks vs. #15 Windsor Jr. Spitfires
Sunday, November 19 at 12:30 p.m. EST
Central Park Athletics – Windsor, Ontario
These two teams opened the season way back on Sept. 22, with the Spitfires winning the opener, 5-1, and the teams skating to a 3-3 tie the following day. The Canucks posted a 17-6-0 record following that opening series leading up to the Alliance Faceoff. They had compiled a 7-3-0 mark in the 10 contests leading up to the tourney and held an 84-48 scoring advantage over their opponents for the season. One of those three setbacks was a 3-0 decision against the top-ranked Ajax-Pickering Raiders Nov. 5, and they also knocked off the fourth-ranked Waterloo Wolves, 3-1, Oct. 27. Earlier in the season, Elgin-Middlesex split a pair of games against the third-ranked Burlington Eagles and beat the No. 6 Toronto Marlboros. Windsor entered the tournament with a 9-3-1 record and having outscored its foes, 49-25. The Spitfires had split their most recent outings vs. No. 4 Waterloo, Nov. 10 and 11, leaving them with a 9-2-0 record in their previous 11 contests heading into the weekend.
