The high-end events keep coming as we approach the holiday weekend at the end of the month in the United States. Things slow down a bit in the U.S. for the Thanksgiving weekend, but there is still plenty of great hockey action taking place around North America throughout November.

For the weekend of Nov. 14-18, we have all six teams forming one of the top 18U Boys leagues in the continent heading to Boston for the first Prep Hockey Conference weekend showcase event.  

In the Canadian Maritimes, 62 AAA Boys teams from all over Eastern Canada in the U15, U16 and U18 age groups are flocking to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete in the 43^rd annual Monctonian Tournament. No fewer than eight of Eastern Canada’s top 10 teams, according to the MHR Week 8 rankings, will compete in each division.

Finally, we stay in Canada but head west as 23 elite Canadian U15 and U.S. 14U Boys teams have traveled to the Burnaby, British Colubmia, area for the Annual Pat Quinn Classic U15 Elite Invitational. The Pat Quinn Classic, which also offers a U18 tournament later in the season, boasts five of Western Canada’s top 10 U15 AAA Boys team as well as the USA’s second-ranked 14U Boys Tier 1 team competing in the event’s top flight.

 

Prep Hockey Conference Boston Showcase Weekend

While the season has seen a few weekends of Prep Hockey Conference divisional matchups in the east and west, this weekend’s league showcase at the home of the Boston Bruins, Warrior Arena, has the visiting West Division teams taking on their East Division counterparts.

Founded by six traditional top USA and Canadian Boys Tier 1 AAA prep/academy programs to showcase their elite youth hockey talent, the PHC has become one of the top in-season showcase-style leagues for NCAA and professional hockey prospects. As usual, this year’s PHC lineup includes some of the top North American 18U Boys programs.

The PHC brings together like-minded and well-matched teams representing some of the continent’s traditional 18U Boys powerhouse programs. It was established in 2021 by six top North American hockey-playing academies and institutions: Culver Academies (Indiana), Mount St. Charles Academy (Rhode Island), Northwood School (New York), Shattuck St. Mary’s (Minnesota),  South Kent School (Connecticut) and St. Andrew’s College (Ontario). Those same six programs comprise the PHC for the 2024-25 campaign.

St. Andrew’s College has been the top-ranked Canadian Independent Prep program consistently for the past several years and has returned to that perch this year after a 9-1-1 start that includes a pair of wins over PHC-counterpart Culver Academy, the No. 9 USA Tier 1 18U Boys program in MHR’s Week 8 rankings. The Saints’ lone loss was against USA 18U Tier 1 No. 4 Bishop Kearney Selects, Nov. 6, and they also tied BK, 1-1, Oct. 9. St. Andrews also has recorded four wins over the USA Nos. 25 and 26 18U Tier 1 teams.

St. Andrew’s players Aiden Lane, Kieran Dervin and Oliver Turner were featured on the NHL’s Central Scouting list, and new additions to the team for this season were selected in this year's OHL Priority Selection, including Jaxon Cover, a fourth-round pick of the London Knights.

No. 9 Culver Academy is 7-5-0, while playing the third-toughest schedule among the USA’s top 10 18U Tier 1 teams, according to MHR. Culver has become a perennial qualifier for USA Hockey Nationals thanks to a deep and skilled roster. The goaltending tandem of Maverick Avent and Logan McGuire backstops a strong defense, while John Collins-Williams and Wolf Woelk lead a potent offensive attack.

Culver and St. Andrew’s will be joined in Boston by USA Boys 18U Tier 1 No. 1 Shattuck-St. Mary’s, No. 18 Mount St. Charles Academy, No. 3 USA 18U Overall South Kent School and No. 14 USA Overall Northwood School.

Shattuck St. Mary’s has earned a reputation as the top Tier 1 program in the United States thanks to the school’s 10 USA Hockey National Championship and the 24 NHL draft picks it has produced. On top of that, there have been numerous NCAA Division I commits. The Sabres are 16-3-2 this season and have outscored their opponents, 102-25, despite playing the second-toughest schedule among the top 10 USA 18U Boys Tier 1 teams. The roster includes three players, Alexander Donovan, Jones Graham and Dylan Lebret, who appeared on this year's NHL Central Scouting list, but Gavin Katz and Quinn Mckenzie have been the team’s offensive leaders to date.

Northwood School from Lake Placid, N.Y., offers a unique blend of high-level hockey and intense academics, playing a challenging schedule that features a combination of top New England and Canadian Prep programs and many of the USA’s best 18U Tier 1 Boys teams. Northwood is 17-4-1 and counts victories against USA 18U Overall No. 3 South Kent School, the fourth-ranked USA 18U Tier 1 Bishop Kearney Selects and the No. 7 USA 18U Tier 1 New Jersey Rockets among its victories. William Schneid, who is on the NHL Central Scouting list, has 36 points in 22 games.

Perennial USA Hockey National Championship-contender Mount Saint Charles has captured 46 Rhode Island state championships while sending countless players on to play at top NCAA Division I programs. Forward Mate Tardi has 32 points in 26 games, and four defensemen return from last year’s 11^th-ranked team. MSC is 10-12-0 this season but has gone 10-7-0 after dropping its first five games, including four losses against opponents ranked in the U.S. top five. Mount St. Charles has recorded a pair of wins vs. Northwood, a victory over the No. 10 Boston Jr. Bruins and a win against South Kent.

South Kent School’s hockey program has produced 24 NHL draft picks and more than 100 NCAA Division I commits. South Kent also captured back-to-back USA Hockey national championships in 2018 and 2019. This season, the USA’s third-ranked 18U Overall nUSA Boys team has posted an 18-5-2 record while outscoring its opponents, 135-63. South Kent split a pair of contests against Mount St. Charles Nov. 2-4 and did the same vs. Northwood Oct. 26-27. The team was unbeaten through its first 15 contests (14-0-1) but has gone 4-5-1 since. Early victories came against the USA’s Nos. 11, 15 and 18 Tier 1 18U Boys teams.

So far in PHC, play there have been weekends featuring teams from the same conferences playing against each other, but for the weekend of Nov. 16-18 all six PHC clubs will be in Boston competing at Warrior Arena, the practice facility for the Boston Bruins.

Here is a look at the league standings heading into the weekend:

 

PHC East

Mount St. Charles – 3-1-0, 8 pts

South Kent School – 2-2-0, 6 pts

Northwood School – 1-3-0, 4 pts

 

PHC West

St. Andrew’s College – 2-0-0, 6 pts

Shattuck-St. Mary’s – 0-0-0, 0 pts

Culver Academies – 0-2-0, 0 pts

 

CLICK HERE for the complete PHC standings

 

The weekend slate includes each team playing one game per day against a team from the opposite division. USA Overall and Tier 1 18U Boys No. 1 Shattuck-St. Mary’s takes on USA No. 3 overall South Kent School Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. EST. South Kent faces No. 1 Canada Prep St. Andrew’s Sunday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m EST. and No. 9 Culver Academies Monday, Nov. 18 at 9:30 a.m. EST. USA national powers Shattuck and Mount St. Charles face off on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. EST.  

CLICK HERE for the full PHC weekend schedule

 

 

43^rd Annual Montonian Challenge

Between eight and nine of Eastern Canada’s current top 10 AAA Boys teams at each of the U15, U16 and U18 age levels will compete in the 43^rd annual Monctonian Challenge in Moncton, New Brunswick. The tournament began Thursday, Nov. 14, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 17, with pool play winding down by mid-day Saturday and playoffs getting underway later that day. There are a total of 62 teams competing across the three age groups,

All Montonian games can be viewed via webstream at AO Live. Games are being played at Byron Dobson Arena, Crossman Community Centre/Kay Arena and Greenfoot Energy 4-Plex.

 

CLICK HERE for the complete Monctonian schedule

CLICK HERE for the scores of games in all age groups

CLICK HERE for the updated Montonian standings

 

Monctonian Challenge U15 Division

There are 24 teams competing in six four-team pools at the U15 level. Eight of Eastern Canada’s top 10 U15 Boys teams, according to the Week 8 MHR Rankings, are participating. Pool play in Pools C, E and F features matchups of top 10 teams.

 

Top Competing Teams & Pools

#1 Dieppe Flyers (B)

#2 Moncton Hawks (A)

#3 Eastern Thunder (E)

#4 Pictou Bombers (F)

#5 Tantallon Gulls (E)

#7 St. John’s Hitmen (F)

#9 Fredericton Caps (C)

#10 Bedford Bandits (C)

 

Monctonian Challenge U16 Division

There are 14 teams competing in six pools at the U16 level. Eight of Eastern Canada’s top 10 U16 Boys teams, according to the Week 8 MHR Rankings, are participating. All three of the teams in Pool C are ranked among the top 10, while pools D and A also feature top 10 matchups in the preliminary round.

 

Top Competing Teams & Pools

#1 Basin Armada (D)

# 2 Eastern Dukes (A)

#3 Western Rebels (C)

#6 Moncton Thunderbirds (B)

#7 Cabot Highlanders (C)

#8 Fundy Thunder (C)

#9 Valley Wildcats (D)

#10 St. John’s Vitos (A)

 

Monctonian Challenge U18 Division

There are 24 teams competing in six four-team pools at the U18 level. Nine of Eastern Canada’s top 10 U18 Boys teams, according to the Week 8 MHR Rankings, are participating. Pools A, E and F feature matchups of top 10 teams in the preliminary round.

 

Top Competing Teams & Pools

#1 Pinnacle Growlers (D)

#2 Halifax MacDonald’s (E)

#3 East Coast Blizzard (A)

#5 Moncton Flyers (A)

#6 Fredericton Caps (B)

#7 Dartmouth Steele Subaru (C)

#8 Pictou Weeks Major (F)

#9 Charlottetown Knights (E)

#10 Tri-Pen Osprey (F)

 

 

Pat Quinn Classic U15 Elite Invitational

All told, there are 23 Canadian U15 and U.S. 14U Boys teams competing in this year’s Pat Quinn Classic, which is being held in Delta and Coquitlam, B.C., from Thursday, Nov. 14 until Sunday, Nov. 17. The tournament is divided into two flights, with eight highly ranked Canadian and U.S. teams competing in Flight 1 and 15 more teams from both nations in Flight 2. Our focus will be on Flight 1.

Each team is guaranteed at least four games. Flight 1 is divided into two four-team pools, with each team playing every other team in its pool once to determine semifinal seeding. The top two seeds in each pool advance to the semis, with all other teams playing consolation games. The semifinals are scheduled for the evening of Saturday, Nov. 16, with the championship game slated for the next morning.

 

Top Participating Teams

#1 Northern Alberta Xtreme (W. Canada)

#2 Little Caesars (USA 14U)

#2 Delta Hockey Academy (W. Canada)

#5 St, George’s HCSS Academy (W. Canada)

#9 Burnaby Winter Club Academy (W. Canada)

#10 Yale Hockey Academy (W. Canada)

Top Pool Play Matchups

Friday, Nov. 15, 2:45 p.m. EST at Plant Ice Coquitlam

Delta Hockey Academy vs. Little Caesars

 

Friday, Nov. 15, 4:15 p.m. EST at Plant Ice Delta

Yale Hockey Academy vs. Northern Alberta Xtreme

 

Friday, Nov. 15, 10:00 p.m. EST at Plant Ice Delta

Yale Hockey Academy vs. St. George’s

 

Friday, Nov. 15, 10:00 p.m. EST at Plant Coquitlam

Delta Hockey Academy vs. Burnaby Winter Club Academy

 

CLICK HERE for the Pat Quinn Classic schedule, stats & results