For many North American youth and minor hockey families, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day provides an opportunity to step back, take a deep breath and relax before the second half of the hockey season gets underway. That’s not the case everywhere, however, as some of the season’s top tournaments are being held this week or during the upcoming weekend.

And that’s definitely not the case in hockey-hotbed Minnesota, as some of the nation’s top high-school programs come together for holiday tournaments while many of the top Minnesota-based Minn-Kota Bantam AA teams head to Grand Forks, N.D., for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bantam AA Shootout.

Ten of Minn-Kota’s top-16 and 16 of the top-31 Bantam AA teams descend upon Grand Forks for the tournament, which gets underway Thursday and runs through Sunday at the University of North Dakota’s Ralph Englestad Arena and the Icon Sports Center.

So, for the first time this season, we will feature a pair of top Minn-Kota matchups as two of our Week 14 MHR/Live Barn Games of the Week. Our two matchups include four of the top-8 Minn-Kota Bantam AA teams from our Week 13 rankings.

Here is a look at the teams competing in Grand Forks:

#2 Moorhead Spuds

#3 Osseo Maple Grove

#4 West Fargo Stampede

#6 Rogers Royals

#8 Chaska Chanhassen Stormhawks

#10 Hermantown Hawks

#11 Grand Forks Aviators

#12 East Grand Forks

#15 Rosemount Irish

#16 Wayzata Trojans

#18 Grand Rapids Thunderhawks

#22 Elk River Elks

#24 Eden Prairie Eagles

#26 Minot Wolves

#29 Bemidji Lumberjacks

#31 Fargo Freeze

 

Because we release our Games of the Week on Thursday or Friday most weeks, we usually are limited to choosing from the best preliminary-round matchups in tournaments since we don’t have Biff’s sports almanac from Back to the Future to tell us which teams will advance to the playoff rounds. That’s not the case this week, though, with some tournaments having started earlier in the week than usual since so many folks are off from school and work during the holidays.

For that reason, we can bring you a playoff matchup from the East Coast Wizards Holiday Invitational in Massachusetts. The ECW holiday tourney features many top-ranked 16U and 19U Tier 1 and 2 girls’ teams from around the country competing at the Edge Sports Center in Bedford, Mass. A total of 30 teams from the16U and 19U age levels are competing there.

Our matchup from Bedford is a Thursday USA Girls 19U Tier 1 playoff tilt between the host third-ranked Wizards and the No. 23 Islanders Hockey Club. All of the ECW Holiday Invitational games can be viewed live or on-demand via LiveBarn.

We also are fortunate to be able to bring you a Thursday matchup from the Toronto Marlboros Holiday Classic in Ontario between a pair of top-10 USA and Ontario 16U AAA boys’ teams. The tournament website is down, but event information can be located via the Marlboros Instagram account. All tournament games can be seen on  LiveBarn.

 

Week 14 MHR/LiveBarn Featured Games of the Week  

#2 Moorhead Spuds vs. #8 Chaska Chanhassen Stormhawks

Level: Minn-Kota Bantam AA

Date: Thursday, December 29

Time: 6:45 p.m. ET

Location: Icon Sports Center – Grand Forks, N.D.

Event: Buffalo Wild Wings Bantam AA Shootout

Stream: N/A

Moorhead enters the Bantam AA Shootout with a 24-4-0 record and having outscored their opponents by a 153-52 margin. The Spuds are allowing slightly more than two goals per game and have recorded three shutouts. They have won two of their last three contests, with the loss coming against the third-ranked Tier 1 Chicago Mission, 4-3. The victories came against the No. 12 Ontario AAA team and the USA’s No. 14 Tier 1 club. Prior to that, Moorhead also defeated the sixth-ranked USA Tier 1 Los Angeles Jr. Kings, 6-3. The Spuds are 7-3-0 in their last 10 outings after opening the season on a 17-1-0 run. CCHA enters the tourney at 13-10-4 and having outscored its opponents, 122-98. The Stormhawks are unbeaten in their last five games (3-0-2) since a four-game losing skid. Prior to that stretch, CCHA had posted a 10-6-2 record. These two teams met on Nov. 12, with the Spuds earning a 3-1 victory.

 

#4 West Fargo Stampede vs. #6 Rogers Royals

Level: Minn-Kota Bantam AA

Date: Friday, December 30

Time: 6:15 p.m. ET

Location: Icon Sports Center – Grand Forks, N.D.

Event: Buffalo Wild Wings Bantam AA Shootout

Stream: N/A

Another battle of top Minn-Kota teams from the Bantam AA Shootout in Grand Forks, N.D., features the fourth- and sixth-ranked clubs. West Fargo brings a 17-7-0 record to the Shootout. They have outscored their opponents, 97-59, and have won their last four outings while allowing just five goals. Prior to the winning streak, West Fargo dropped a 3-2 decision to second-ranked Moorhead. That loss is the only blemish in the Stampede’s current 7-1-0 run, and they are 11-2-0 in their last 13 outings. Rogers enters the tournament at 15-5-4 and holding a 124-70 scoring advantage over its opponents. The Royals are unbeaten in their last six contests (4-2-0) and are 8-2-3 in their last 13. Their losses during that stretch came against West Fargo and No. 10 Hermantown, and they tied No. 3 Osseo Maple Grove, 3-3. These two teams are meeting for the second time, with the Stampede skating to a 4-1 victory in their Dec. 4 matchup.

 

#3 East Coast Wizards vs. #23 Islanders Hockey Club

Level: USA Girls 19U Tier 1

Date: Thursday, December 29

Times: 12:30 p.m. EST

Location: Edge Sports Center – Bedford, Mass.

Event: East Coast Wizards Holiday Invitational

Stream: LiveBarn

The third-ranked Wizards are 3-0-0 so far in the tournament, giving them a 15-6-4 record on the season. They have outscored their three opponents, 24-1, which has pushed them to a 97-31 scoring advantage in all games to date. East Coast had dropped its last game heading into the tournament, 3-1, against the No. 5 Boston Jr. Eagles, snapping a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1). The Wizards did not allow a goal in the four contests leading up to that loss, outscoring their opponents, 24-0, during that stretch. One of those victories was a 2-0 decision over the same Islanders team they will be playing in the tournament playoffs. The two teams have met twice previously this season, with East Coast recording a pair of victories by a total margin of 8-3. IHC is 2-1-0 in the tournament, opening play with a 3-2 win against the No. 14 Tier 2 Arizona Kachinas and following that up with a 4-1 victory vs. No. 34 Tier 1 Team Illinois. The Islanders dropped their third contest, 8-4, to the 10^th-ranked Mid-Fairfield Stars, leaving them with an overall record of 11-9-0 for the season. They have outscored their opponents, 53-48.

 

#9 USA Little Caesars vs. #9 Ontario Southern Tier Admirals

Level: USA/Ontario Boys 16U Tier 1/AAA

Date: Thursday, December 29

Times: 12:45 p.m. EST

Location: Canlan Ice Sports – Etobicoke, Ontario

Event: Toronto Marlboros Holiday Classic

Stream: LiveBarn

A classic border battle between USA and Ontario Boys 16U AAA powerhouses highlights Thursday action from the Toronto Marlboros Holiday Classic. Little Caesars entered the tournament with a 21-11-1 record and having outscored its opponents, 111-71. Southern Tier was 27-7-4 before Christmas and has gone 1-1-1 since to bring a 28-8-5 mark into this contest. The Admirals have outscored their opponents, 137-56. LC had dropped three of its previous five contests and four of six prior to the tourney after going 10-2-0 in the 12 contests before that skid. That 12-game run included victories against the USA’s Nos. 2, 3, 6, 11 and 20 teams. Southern Tier is 7-1-2 in its last 10 outings, dating to a 4-3 loss to Ontario’s No. 6 Halton Hurricanes Dec. 3. The Admirals also dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision against the top-ranked Toronto Marlboros Nov. 27, a day after beating the seventh-ranked Toronto Nationals, 2-1, and two days after a 1-0 win against the No. 4 Toronto Jr. Canadiens.