Thirty-two of the weekend’s 145 THF games were decided by a single goal and seven of them needed overtime. The Connecticut Showcase brought 9U through 12U together across four Connecticut rinks for three days, and the weekend’s best hockey came in bunches: a showcase game at 12U that changed hands three times before overtime, a hat trick finished off in overtime at 18U, a 1-0 shutout, and a 13U tie rescued inside the closing seconds.
Weekend Headlines
Game of the Weekend — Hartford Wolfpack 12U and Flyers Elite 12U traded the lead three times at the Connecticut Showcase on Friday before Channing Clark tied the game in the third period and won it with 2:16 left in overtime, 6-5. Samuel Bruno scored twice in the middle period for Hartford.
Top Player Performance — Benson Zarefoss of PBK 10U put up 14 goals and four assists across a 4-0 showcase weekend, finishing it with a hat trick against Jersey Hitmen on Sunday — including the winner with 4:20 left in a 4-3 game.
OT Hero — Joseph Flanagan scored with 1:08 left in overtime to complete a hat trick and give New York Saints 18U a 6-5 win over Mercer Chiefs, a game the Saints had trailed by two goals.
Goalie Performance — Jake Vulpis of PAL Jr Islanders 11U Orange turned aside 36 shots in a 3-1 win over Jr. Mounties and 33 more in a 2-1 win over Mercer Chiefs — two tight wins in two days.
Biggest KRACH Surprise — PBK 18U turned in one of the weekend’s biggest surprises, beating an Elmira Jr Aviators side rated well above them in KRACH, 3-2, on Nathan Edwards’ second-period winner.
Unbeaten Weekend — Six teams came through the weekend without a loss: Jersey Hitmen 9U, PBK 10U, CT Jr. Rangers 11U, NY Dynamo 12U and PAL Jr. Islander’s 12U all went 4-0, and PBK 14U did the same.
Division by Division
9U
Five of the division’s 24 showcase games came down to a goal. Wolfpack South trailed Mercer Chiefs by three on Saturday and scored five in a row to win 6-5, Jurgen Weber getting two of them including the goal that stood up as the winner. Sunday produced two overtime finishes: Myer heppell won it for Jersey Hitmen with 2:31 left in the extra period to cap a 4-0 weekend, and Fisher Overton scored twice — the second with 2:43 remaining in overtime — as NYC Hockey Club came from two down to beat NY Arrows 5-4. Bradley Tracy of Flyers Elite led all 9U scorers on the weekend with nine goals and six assists.
10U
PBK’s 4-0 showcase weekend was not all offense: Oliver Amspacher made 37 saves in Sunday’s 4-3 win over Jersey Hitmen. Flyers Elite got the better of a Friday shootout when Jacob Einstein scored the winner in a 6-5 game against Seacoast Spartans. Team Maryland took three of its four games: Bradley Simonini posted a shutout on Saturday, and MAGNUS ANDERSON scored the winner in a 4-2 result against Mercer Chiefs on Sunday.
11U
CT Jr. Rangers went 4-0 at the Connecticut Showcase, with Michael Widmaier posting a shutout on Sunday. Away from the showcase, Utica Jr. Comets erased a two-goal deficit against Buffalo Regals and won 5-4 on Kolby Bostic’s goal with 4:01 to play. Mercer Chiefs and Jersey Hitmen were the division’s one stalemate, finishing 1-1.
12U
Six of the division’s 28 games, split between the showcase and the regular schedule, came down to a single goal. Braeden Callahan stopped all 16 shots he faced as Seacoast Spartans beat Mid-Fairfield 1-0, Blake Michaud scoring the only goal with 5:48 left. CT Jr Rangers needed overtime to get past Jersey Hitmen 2-1, Connor Wyttenbach finishing it. NY Dynamo and PAL Jr. Islander’s each went 4-0, and Fritz Gaspard of NYC Hockey Club was the weekend’s busiest 12U scorer with 13 points.
13U
Jersey Shore Lightning produced the weekend’s most improbable finish, scoring twice in the closing seconds of the third period to pull level with NY Arrows at 4-4 — Nash Doucette’s second goal of the game came with 6.4 seconds left, and Flynn Sotirion made 32 saves to keep his side in it. NYC Hockey Club beat NY Dynamo 3-2 in overtime on Paul Falkenstein’s goal, then took the second game of the pair. Nicholas Marino scored the goal that separated PAL Jr. Islanders and Mercer Chiefs in a 5-3 win.
14U
PBK swept all four of its games with Mason Gaughan recording two shutouts, the first a 2-0 win over New York Saints in which Joshua Warren scored both goals. Warren finished the weekend with nine points. The division’s other story was a scoreless draw on Sunday between CT Jr Rangers Elite and Rockets Hockey Club Premier, the only game in THF all weekend that finished without a goal.
15U
Three of the division’s five games were settled by one goal. Thomas Jackson opened and closed the scoring as Team Maryland beat Philadelphia Revolution 4-3 — one of the weekend’s biggest surprises against a side rated above them in KRACH. Red Bank Generals won 3-2 on Easton Shaheen’s third-period goal, with Tyler Lloyd making 36 saves behind him. Charlie Fox had two goals and three assists in Mount St. Charles’ 6-4 win over South Kent.
16U
PAL Jr. Islanders and Notre Dame Hockey Academy met three times. PAL took Friday’s opener 3-2 on James Fox’s goal; Notre Dame answered on Saturday, Nevio Rubbo tying the game with 3:31 left and Kendry Thompson winning it in overtime, 2-1. Seacoast Academy went 3-0, Tanner Boyer scoring the winner in a 2-1 result against Team Maryland. Five of the division’s 14 games were one-goal games.
18U
Team Maryland went 3-0 and did it the hard way on Saturday, trailing by two going to the third period and scoring three times to win 6-5 — German Martemianov got two of them, including the winner with 2:39 left — then taking Sunday’s rematch 4-3 on Kiptoo Soi’s second goal of the game. Mercer Chiefs won a 1-0 game on Andras Nagy-Melykuti’s first-period goal, and Adam Thiele’s 21-save shutout gave NY Dynamo a Saturday win.