MARLBORO, Mass. — If you wanted extra hockey, you were in luck.
It took four full periods of hockey and a shootout before the East Coast Militia U16s took down the Boston Jr. Eagles, 3-2, to win the Massachusetts 16U Tier 1 state final. Militia will automatically move on to USA Hockey nationals, which will take place in Madison, Wis., from April 1-6, 2025.
Tom Wilkinson (Duxbury, Mass.) scored the shootout-deciding goal, beating Eagles' goalie Tommy Saulnier (Medfield, Mass.) in tight. Brian McFadden (Holbrook, Mass.) also scored for Militia in the shootout, while Eli Zucker denied both Jr. Eagles shooters.
Noah Survilas (Winthrop, Mass.) opened the scoring for the Eagles just 1:30 into the third period on a delayed penalty, blasting a feed from Nick Sumner (Hanover, NH) in the slot.
Nate Moons answered for Militia shortly after, jamming in a rebound after parking himself in front of the net.
The Jr. Eagles thought they were in the clear when Ty Hymovitz made it 2-1 with 2:30 left in regulation. After Spencer Thornborough (Boxford, Mass.) and the Eagles had several whacks at a rebound, Hymovitz was right there to bury it.
But Militia stormed back as Chance Bolton tied it, 2-2, with 59 seconds remaining in regulation. After several chances around the net, the puck worked back to Bolton at the point, and his seeing-eye wrister beat Saulnier from the top of the left circle.
After each side had its share of chances in overtime, Wilkinson, McFadden and Zucker went down as the heroes in the shootout.
With their win, Militia also denied the Jr. Eagles a sweep of the 15O, 16U and 18U Tier 1 state championships.
Let's dive into 8 standouts from the game.
MORE STANDOUTS: 150 Junior Eagles' win | 18u Junior Eagles' win
