Marlborough, MA (Youth1) – Over Presidents' Day Weekend, some of the top Squirt Minor through Bantam Minor teams traveled to Massachusetts to compete in the Eastern Hockey Federation (EHF) Elite Invitational and after five days of competition, the winners have been decided.

 

Squirt Minor – Minuteman Flames (Elite)

As the tournament's top ranked team with a record of 47-1-2, the #2 Minuteman Flames came into the EHF Invitational as heavy favorites.  Placed in the Squirt Minor Black division for the preliminaries, they opened with wins against the #22 Assabet Valley Patriots and #15 Team Comcast.  They then closed out the opening round with a 3-3 tie against the #7 New Jersey Colonials and a victory over the #18 Long Island Gulls.

 

The Flames coasted through the playoffs, defeating the 6^th ranked Mid Fairfield Blues 4-1 in the quarterfinals before topping the 11^th ranked Westchester Express 10-2 in the semi-finals.  In the championship game, the Flames shut out their league opponent, the #10 Middlesex Islanders, 5-0, giving them the championship.

 

Squirt Major – Boston Jr. Eagles (Elite)

The 22^nd ranked Jr. Eagles started off strong in the Squirt Major Black division, beating the New Jersey Rockets, #12 St. Louis Blues and #14 Bridgewater Bandits (Elite) before dropping a surprising game to the Florida Jr. Panthers.

 

In the quarterfinals, the 4^th seeded Jr. Eagles faced the #8 Middlesex Islanders (Elite).  Despite Boston having struggled against Middlesex all season, going 1-1-3 in the five games they have played against each other, they were able to pull out a 5-4 win thanks to a great effort from the entire team.  During their semi-final game, they edged past another EHF league opponent, the #9 Minuteman Flames (Elite), to advance them to the finals where they would play the #2 team in the country, the Tampa Bay Jr. Lightning. In a stunning upset, the Jr. Eagles were able to shut out the Jr. Lightning 3-0 to earn their second tournament title this season.

 

Pee Wee Minor – Syracuse Nationals

During the preliminary round in the Peewee Minor White division, the 6^th ranked Syracuse Nationals had wins over the #9 South Shore Kings (Elite), Long Island Gulls and #15 Mid Fairfield Blues and tied the #19 Minuteman Flames (Elite).

 

As the division's top seeded team, Syracuse earned a bye in the quarterfinals and then took on the #4 New Jersey Colonials, who the Nationals had played twice, winning one game 2-1 and losing the other 6-2.  In a very evenly matched game, the Nationals were able to defeat the Colonials 2-1 to send them to the finals.  There, they played the #11 New England Jr. Falcons, who they had also split a pair of games with earlier this year, but with a full team effort, the Nationals were able to defeat the Jr. Falcons 5-3, earning them the championship title.

 

Pee Wee Major – Greater Boston Vipers

With a record of 41-13-6, the 34^th ranked Greater Boston Vipers entered the tournament as underdogs. They struggled during the preliminary round in the Peewee Major Black division and after beating the Seacoast Spartans, tying both the #28 New England Jr. Falcons and Minuteman Flames (Elite) and losing to the #27 Providence Capitals (Elite), they entered the playoffs as the bottom seeded team.

 

After pulling out a 4-3 win in the quarterfinals over the top seeded Bridgewater Bandits, the Vipers advanced to the semi-finals.  There, they beat the Middlesex Islanders 4-2 to send them to the championship game, where they would face the Jr. Falcons again. With great offensive play from Brendan White, Evan Daddario, Kyle Hentosh and Alex DelVento and an excellent performance from goalie Nick Fiorentino, Greater Boston pulled off the upset and topped New England 6-2, which earned the Vipers their first win over the Jr. Falcons, as well as their first tournament title.

 

Bantam Minor – Westchester Express

Ranked 14^th in the nation with a record of 42-17-4, the Express were one of the favorites to win the tournament at the Bantam Minor level.  During the preliminary round in the White division, they had wins against the #24 New England Falcons, New Jersey Colonials and Florida Alliance before tying the #21 Providence Capitals (Elite) 4-4.

 

In the playoffs, they earned convincing wins over the Rochester Alliance in the quarterfinals and Providence Capitals in the semi-finals, beating both teams 8-3 to advance to the championship game to play the Boston Jr. Eagles (Elite).  In the finals, led by a great offensive performance, the Express defeated the Jr. Eagles 9-1 to become the tournament champions.

 

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