ROCHESTER, Mich. — The New England region went 0-3 on the first day of the 2022 USA Hockey Tier 1 National Championship for the 16-U division at Suburban Ice Center here Wednesday.
Mount Saint Charles overcame a three-goal deficit but fell to their Northeast Pack rival New Jersey Rockets 4-3 in an extended shootout. The Yale Jr. Bulldogs lost 2-1 in overtime to BK Selects, and the Boston Jr. Eagles fell to the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes by a 3-2 score.
Yale goaltender Aiden Hopewell had a superb showing in net, while Joe Connor (Amherst, N.H.) scored the team’s lone goal. Teddy Stiga (Sudbury, Mass.) and Jack Sadowski (Arlington, Mass.) tallied for the Eagles, but couldn’t find the tying score in the final minutes. Captain Jake Gutwirth tallied twice to get his Rhode Island Saints back into their game against the Rockets, with Harvard recruit Michael Hagens getting the equalizer where it would eventually be decided via shootout, before Kristofers Krumins ended it in the 11th round.
The three-game round robin phase will determine which four teams make the semifinals this weekend, so regulation wins and goal differential are major factors.
Here’s a roundup of which teams and players made a positive impression on Day 1, including some notes outside the New England region.
Hopewell lived up to his name
The Kent Lions netminder who led his team to the prep large school championship faced a lot of shots from BK Selects, He made a flurry of saves to keep the score tied at 1-1 with a little over a minute remaining. The 2021 Waterloo Black Hawks draft pick continued to make athletic stops into the 5-minute 5-on-5 overtime period and the game appeared headed for a shootout.
However, BK Selects defenseman and Thorofare, N.J., native Josh Player had other ideas. His shot from the point appeared to hit a Bulldogs player in front of the net and deflected past Hopewell with just 52 seconds left. It appeared that the play was offside, but after conferring as a group, the on-ice officials upheld the call. Hopewell was credited with 39 saves.
Connor brought his usual pace, skill and grit to the mix for Yale. He is one of the region's top uncommitted '05 prospects and had a lot of Division 1 eyes on him in this one.
Mount St. Charles rally comes up short
Things looked grim for the Woonsocket, R.I., based team when Thomas Klochkov (Green Bay Gamblers) scored to make it 3-0 with a little over 2 minutes remaining in the opening frame. However, Gutwirth scored a shorthanded tally just 23 seconds later. The Brooklyn, N.Y., product scored his second goal of the game early in the second period when he skated the puck into the offensive zone, created separation for himself, and then went bar-down with a wicked shot. Once Hagens tied the game later in the second, the teams settled in and battled in a spirited up-and-down game that remained scoreless the rest of the way.
Quinnipiac recruit and Sewell, N.J., product Chris Pelosi (Muskegon Lumberjacks) scored on his first two shootout attempts for the Saints, but each time they scored, the Rockets were able to answer. Krumins, a Youngstown Phantoms prospect, was the shootout hero, scoring on all three of his attempts, including the winning score after Pelosi was denied on his third try at the other end.
Compuware sleepy to start, yet posts a shutout victory
One year ago, Detroit Honeybaked won the 15 Only national championship trophy. Many of those players moved to Detroit Compuware, so this group had high expectations for the first game of the day against Florida Alliance.
Compuware got a power play goal from Jaden Johnson on a nice one-timer about six minutes into the game, and that goal would hold up as the winner. Having said that, Compuware is stacked with ’05 players from the Honeybaked team, many of whom were drafted by USHL teams last May. The Alliance players competed hard, but the talent gap was evident, even though Compuware’s pace was sluggish and execution sloppy. It didn’t come back to haunt them, as goaltender Michael Modelski was sharp when he needed to be, keeping the Alliance off the scoreboard.
Compuware defenseman Jack Willson was impressive with his skating and ability to move pucks quickly and with authority. He doesn’t have a lot of size, but plays with jam and is willing to take a hit to make the play.
This is a talented team, and watch for them to pick it up as the tournament goes on.
Chicago Mission tops Penguins Elite in OT
James Reeder tied the game late, then scored in sudden death while on the penalty kill to steal a big win away from Pittsburgh.
The bigger name players in this game came to the fore: Boston University recruit Brandon Svoboda scored the first goal on a powerful net drive, using his size and shot effectively. Pens teammate Justin Stupka had a shorthanded tally off the rush, and added an assist. Both players were drafted in the USHL by the Youngstown Phantoms.
Reeder, a third-round selection of the Dubuque Fighting Saints last May, looked the part of a top USHL prospect by playing with speed, energy and coming through in the clutch with two big goals.
Three stars
Alex Hebbelthwaite
Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, 6/27/05, RW, left shot, 6-0/160
The complete package of size, skating, smarts and a big shot: the Toronto product scored a pair of power play goals against the Eagles, including the game-winner. A teammate of Boston’s Daniel Markevych on the Mississauga Reps Under-15 team in 2019-20, Hebbelthwaite first caught my eye at last October's Beantown Classic with the Coyotes. He has the big-time game and swagger of a player for top-level juniors, D1 college and beyond.
Aiden Hopewell
Yale Bulldogs, 1/10/05, G, catches left, 6-2/170
Deserved a better fate than a loss in a controversial play in overtime, but the Virginian has taken strong strides after an uneven fall season to settle in at Kent. He’s big, fluid, and competes hard, doesn't give up on plays and uses his flexibility and range to deny cross-ice shots.
Christian Humphreys
BK Selects, 2/4/06, C, right shot, 5-11/154
Expected to be named to the U.S. National Team Development Program’s 2022-23 under-17 team, the McMurray, Pa., native impressed with his mature, refined game for one so young. The offense just seems to flow through Humphreys when he’s on the ice, and he can make any play you need him to: thread the needle through traffic with a pass, work the puck to the net with a hard shot, or finish a hit and create space. The sky is the limit here, and if his team is going to contend for a championship here, he’s going to be in the thick of it.
Honorable mention
Nick Fascia
LI Gulls, 4/28/05, D, left shot, 6-2/185
NCAA commit: Penn St.
From Blackwell, N.J., the first-round USHL futures pick by the Madison Capitols looked the part in his team's win over the Sioux Falls Power. He's tall, rangy, and uses his length to force opponents to the outside or strip pucks away off the rush. He moved the play up ice with crisp, efficient outlet passes and didn't try to do too much.
