MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — The best team doesn’t always win the ultimate championship, but the North Jersey Avalanche did just that in this year’s USA Hockey 16-U National Championship. The undisputed top team in 16-U Midget hockey finished with a bang by beating the Colorado Thunderbirds, 5-1, in Monday’s championship game at Centene Community Ice...
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — The best team doesn’t always win the ultimate championship, but the North Jersey Avalanche did just that in this year’s USA Hockey 16-U National Championship.
The undisputed top team in 16-U Midget hockey finished with a bang by beating the Colorado Thunderbirds, 5-1, in Monday’s championship game at Centene Community Ice Center just outside of St. Louis.
Left wing Quentin Musty showed why he’s one of the most highly regard ’05s in the country. He led the way offensively with three goals and six assists. Harvard commit Mick Thompson, the right wing on Musty’s line, scored three goals and four assists. Nick Moldenhauer, one of the top ’04s in all of Canada, potted five goals and added an assist. Defenseman Peter Lukas Klemm (Ridgefield, Conn.) had three assists. The team’s head coach was Vinny Smith, who is moving on to become the Midget director for the Long Island Gulls.
Bishop Kearney Selects lost 3-2 to North Jersey in Sunday’s semifinal contest. The first-year program out of Rochester, N.Y., got contributions from several different players up front, including Andrew DellaDonna, Michael Kadlecik and Nick Peluso. DellaDonna, an Ohio State commit, had four goals and one assist. Kadlecik and Peluso each had three goals and one assist, while Dylan Weger had five helpers.
The New Jersey Rockets went a perfect 3-0 in pool play but were upset by the Thunderbirds in Saturday’s quarterfinal action. Forwards Nick VanTassell and Stephan Kuznetsov each had two goals and two assists.
Neither New England entrant made it to the weekend’s playoff action. Mount Saint Charles lost all three pool-play games by identical scores of 4-3, while Seacoast Performance Academy lost its first two games before beating Shattuck-St. Mary’s in a shootout. Tomas Trunda, Jason Stefanek and Hudson Blue each had a goal and an assist for the Mounties. Oliver Genest (Sanford, Maine) had two goals and an assist for Seacoast. Devin Rask and Chris Uber are the coaches of Mount Saint Charles, while Kurt Mallett is the bench boss for Seacoast Performance Academy.
Stay tuned to New England Hockey Journal later this week as Jeff Cox will have his evaluations of the top players from each division of the USA Hockey Tier 1 Nationals.
