The first few weeks of January – between the opening week of the new year and Martin Luther King Day – are reserved for tournament play by many youth and minor hockey teams in North America. That period provides a final opportunity for many teams to travel to fun destinations and challenge different teams from different areas or to take on top non-league competition before the final stretch run to playoffs, state, district, regional and national tournaments begins.

All of our Week 15 Games of the Week come from a variety of tournaments being held this weekend in various locations and featuring some of the top Tier 1 boys, prep and Tier 2 girls teams in the United States and Canada.

Our first stop will be at the GameSheet Prep Cup in Massachusetts, an eight-team event that includes some of the top New England Prep School boys’ teams as well highly ranked USA Independent Prep teams and very strong 18U Tier 1 clubs. Also joining the field is St. Andrew’s College from Ontario, Canada’s top-ranked Independent Prep team.

Teams will play one game per day on the campus of Merrimack College, with the winners advancing to play other winners and losing teams taking on other teams that lose until a champion is determined. This year’s GameSheet Prep Cup field includes these teams playing against each other during Friday’s opening day of competition:

10:00 a.m. at Gallant Arena – Northwood School vs. Dexter-Southfield School

Northwood is the No. 14 overall USA 18U Boys team and No. 4 in the Independent Prep rankings. Dexter-Southfield is No. 15 in the MHR New England Prep rankings.

 

12:00 p.m. at Lawler Arena – Nichols School vs. St. Andrew’s College (Canada)

Nichols (N.Y.) is the No. 11 USA Independent Prep team, while St. Andrew’s is the top-ranked Canadian Independent Prep team.

 

12:30 p.m. at Gallant Arena – Kimball Union Academy vs. Culver Academy

Kimball Union is ranked sixth among New England Prep teams. Culver is the third-ranked USA Boys Tier 1 National Bound team and the No. 3 USA Independent Prep team.

 

Featured Game:

2:30 p.m. at Lawler Arena – The Frederick Gunn School vs. Mount St. Charles

The Gunn School is the No. 2 New England Prep Team, while Mount St. Charles is the second-ranked USA Boys Tier 1 National Bound team.

CLICK HERE for the complete schedule and standings. All Prep Cup games can be seen live and on-demand from the Merrimack College rinks on LiveBarn (venue may be temporarily closed for live broadcasts). 

 

The Port Huron International Silver Stick Finals for the 2008 and 2010 age groups also are being held this weekend and provide two of our Week 15 Games of the Week. We are highlighting one game from each age group from a tournament that includes some of the top AAA, AA and A teams in the U.S. and Canada.

The Port Huron 2010 Silver Stick Finals features a stacked field of 24 highly ranked Ontario and American AAA teams. Teams are place in six four-team pools, with each one playing four preliminary-round games to determine who advances to the quarterfinals. In the 2010 AAA division, all 12 teams from the United States are ranked among the top 36, with four top-10 teams represented. Ontario’s teams range from Nos. 1 through No. 27, with four teams ranked among the province’s top 10.

Our Game of the Week from the 2010 division is a border battle bright and early Saturday morning between USA No. 9 Honeybaked and Ontario’s fifth-ranked Markham Majors.

Although not quite as strong as the 2010 division, the Port Huron 2008 AAA group also includes many highly ranked American and Ontario-based teams. There are 32 teams spread out among eight pools at the 2008 level, with each of those teams also playing four preliminary-round contests to narrow the field to eight quarterfinalists.

Our 2008 Game of the Week from Port Huron is a Saturday afternoon tilt between Ontario’s No. 9 Toronto Marlboros and USA’s No. 10 Pittsburgh Vengeance.

Port Huron Silver Stick schedules, results and standings can be found by CLICKING HERE. All games can be seen live or on-demand via LiveBarn.

 

Our final Game of the Week comes from the National Girls Hockey League (NGHL) 12U Red Division Futures East Winter Classic in New Jersey. The NGHL is a growing league that provides opportunities for Tier 1 and Tier 2 girls teams from around the United States to compete in showcase-style tournaments in various locations while also playing in a league format and competing for a championship. The Futures Division includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams from the 10U and 12U age groups.

Our NGHL Game of the Week pits a pair of top-20 Tier 2 teams facing off Saturday in the 12U division as No. 13 Philadelphia Little Flyers Black take on the No. 17 Carolina Jr. Hurricanes. The 12U Red Division includes the Nos. 30, 32, 47 and 53 Tier 1 teams as well as the Nos. 8, 13, 17 and 24 Tier 2 teams.

CLICK HERE for the NGHL tournament schedule and results. All NGHL Winter Classic games can be viewed on LiveBarn from ProSkate Ice Arena in Monmouth, N.J.

 

Week 14 MHR/LiveBarn Featured Games of the Week  

#2 (NE Prep) Frederick Gunn School vs. #2 (T1 National Bound) Mount St. Charles

Level: USA Boys Prep/18U

Date: Friday, January 6

Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

Location: Lawler Arena at Merrimack College – North Andover, Mass.

Event: GameSheet Prep Cup

Stream: LiveBarn (pending venue being open for broadcast)

The closing game of the Prep Cup’s opening day also might be the most highly anticipated matchup of the entire tournament as the Gunn School, ranked second in MHR’s New England Prep rankings, faces perennial 18U Tier 1 national-championship contender Mount St. Charles. Gunn enters the tournament with a 10-2-0 record and having outscored its opponents, 57-22. They opened their season with 10 straight victories before falling to No. 13 Loomis Chaffee and No. 16 Tabor Academy at the Avon Old Farms tournament the week before Christmas. Among those 10 victories were a pair of wins against No. 11 Kent School as well as victories vs. No. 17 Hotchkiss and No. 21 Williston Northampton. Mount St. Charles is 25-5-2 as the Prep Cup gets underway with a 128-64 scoring advantage over its opponents to date. MSC has allowed exactly two goals per game and has held seven of its last eight opponents to zero or one goal. The only game during that span in which Mount St. Charles surrendered more than a single tally was a 3-0 setback vs. the No. 25 Maine Nordiques Dec. 11. MSC has played just one game since that outing, a 7-1 victory vs. the No. 39 South Shore Kings Jan. 2. Mount St. Charles is 10-1-0 in its last 11 contests, dating to a 4-3 loss to third-ranked Culver Academy Nov. 14. Right before that setback, MSC knocked off top-ranked Shattuck-St. Mary’s, 5-3, and St. Andrew’s College, Canada’s top-ranked prep team, 7-4.

 

#5 (Ontario) Markham Majors vs. #9 (US) Honeybaked

Level: Canada/USA Boys 2010 AAA

Date: Saturday, December 7

Time: 7:00 a.m. ET

Location: Glacier Pointe Ice Complex – Port Huron, Mich.

Event: International Silver Stick Finals

Stream: LiveBarn

Markham entered the Port Huron Silver Stick finals with a record of 29-8-1 before going 2-0 to start the tournament with victories against USA’s Nos. 5 and 25 teams. The Majors beat the Chicago Reapers, 5-4, and the New Jersey Rockets, 4-2, to set up two final opening-round showdowns against Ontario’s fourth-ranked London Jr. Knights Friday and Honeybaked Saturday. Markham entered the game vs. London at 31-8-1 and having outscored its opponents, 158-72. Honeybaked was 28-13-5 before splitting a pair of games to open tourney play. They lost to Ontario’s No. 6 Toronto Marlboros, 5-2, before hammering London, 7-0. Those results improved their goal differential for the season to 234-131. Honeybaked is scheduled to play the Rockets Friday afternoon before the matchup against Markham. They had won 10 of their previous 11 games entering the tournament, a stretch that included wins vs. the top-ranked Jr. Flyers, No. 11 Pens Elite, No. 6 Chicago Fury and the No. 5 Reapers. The loss, ironically, was a 4-1 decision vs. the Rockets. Markham had dropped a pair of games to Ontario’s Nos. 1 and 15 teams entering the weekend after a five-game winning streak that included a victory against the top-ranked Toronto Jr. Canadiens.

 

#9 (Ontario) Toronto Marlboros vs. #10 (USA) Pittsburgh Vengeance

Level: Canada/USA Boys 2008 AAA

Date: Saturday, December 7

Time: 12:30 p.m. ET

Location: Suburban Ice – Macomb, Mich.  

Event: International Silver Stick Finals

Stream: LiveBarn

The Marlboros opened play at the Port Huron Silver Stick finals with a 3-1 win over the USA’s No. 50 Madison Capitols to improve to 21-12-2 on the season. They now have outscored their opponents, 108-71, pending a pair of Friday contests vs. USA’s No. 27 Sioux Fall Power and the Traverse City Northstars. Pittsburgh began play in Port Huron by falling to the USA’s No. 12 Windy City Storm and are still scheduled to play the Power and Northstars before this matchup on Saturday. Traverse City is the No. 8 Tier 2 team in the United States. After that opening contest, the Vengeance boasted a record of 23-15-2 record and had outscored their opponents, 127-97. That was Pittsburgh’s second straight 4-3 loss as they had split a pair of games against the 11^th-ranked Boston Jr. Eagles prior to traveling to Port Huron. The Vengeance now are 4-6-0 in their last 10 outings, They have beaten the Jr. Eagles twice during that span and also knocked off the No. 13 Long Island Gulls. Toronto’s opening-game victory snapped a two-game losing skid in which they lost to Ontario’s Nos. 17 and 19 teams. Prior to that the Marlboros had gone 12-1-1 in their previous 14 outings.

 

#13 Little Flyers Black vs. #17 Carolina Jr. Hurricanes

Level: USA Girls 12U Tier 2

Date: Saturday, December 7

Time: 2:20 p.m. ET

Location: ProSkate Arena – Monmouth Junction, N.J.  

Event: International Silver Stick Finals

Stream: LiveBarn

Play began early Friday at the NGHL Winter Classic, and the Little Flyers have sprinted out of the gates with a pair of victories to improve to 27-13-3 on the year. They beat the No. 24 Montgomery Ice Devils, 3-0, and Tier 1 Lovell Winter Club, 4-0. Those two shutouts improved their goal differential to 191-69 for the season. They have recorded shutouts in four of their last six games, going 5-1-0 in that span while outscoring their opponents 28-1. The only loss was a 5-4 overtime setback vs. the Delmarva Raptors. This NGHL Winter Classic marks the Little Flyers’ first games since that Dec. 18 loss. They are 9-1-1 in their last 11 outings. Seven different players scored for the Little Flyers in Friday’s wins: Jessa Hay, Viviana Serpentine, Kayleigh Boland, Chloe Quigley, Alana Bellan, Alexis Marzzacco and Lena Tiernan. The Jr. Canes opened play at the Winter Classic with a 5-1 victory over Lovell Winter Club with five different players scoring. Chloe Feliciano, Lexi Durant, Margaux Ponzi, Elena Danilina and Aleeya Hamner each tallied for Carolina in the victory, which improved their record to 12-10-2 on the season. They have outscored their opponents, 85-60. The Jr. Canes are 1-4-1 in their last six outing but had gone 6-1-1 before that. In the recent difficult stretch, Carolina tied the Tier 2 No. 2 East Coast Wizards, 1-1, and lost to the No. 7 Tier 2 Boston Jr. Eagles, 1-0, as well as No. 27 Tier 1 Islanders Hockey Cub, 4-0, and No. 33 Tier 1 North Shore Vipers, 3-1. The Jr. Canes also dropped a 3-0 decision to the Tier 1 No. 18 Seacoast Spartans.