With the New England District now having completed its playoffs, the field of teams that will represent the region at USA Hockey Nationals is now set.
Yale Junior Bulldogs and Seacoast Performance Academy won the New England District Playoffs at 18U and 16U, respectively, over the weekend at the Northford Ice Pavilion. Mount Saint Charles won at 15 Only and 14U.
Back in November, three different organizations won each midget age group at the Massachusetts Hockey State Championships. Boston Junior Eagles were victorious at 18U while the Little Bruins and Neponset Valley River Rats skated off the New England Sports Center ice with the banner at 16U and 15 Only, respectively. Two weekends ago, the Boston Junior Eagles captured the crown at 14U.
In addition to the eight New England-based teams that earned automatic bids due to winning the Massachusetts and New England districts, three teams from the region have been given at-large berths in the USA Hockey Nationals.
Below is a look at who made the USA Hockey Nationals from New England and what the road to winning a championship looks like for each of the four age groups.
18U
Three teams from the region will have an opportunity to win the national championship at 18U. Mount Saint Charles, Yale Junior Bulldogs and Boston Junior Eagles are inside the top eight of the rankings heading into the national tournament in San Jose, Calif.
Mount Saint Charles, the defending champion at 18U, doesn’t have the same firepower as it did in 2022. However, it wouldn’t be wise to count out the boys from Woonsocket. Led up front by Patrick Murphy (North Kingstown, R.I.), Jake Gutwirth and Christian Venticinque, the Saints have a good chance at making a deep run.
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The Yale Junior Bulldogs will be without star forward and Northeastern commit Joe Connor, who has moved on to the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks after winning an Elite 8 championship at Avon Old Farms. The Junior Bulldogs had key performances from Avon Old Farms winger Alex Pelletier (Manchester, Conn.) and Kent center Gio DiGiulian (South Burlington, Vt.) and Taft goaltender Rudy Guimond at last weekend’s New England District Playoffs.
The Boston Junior Eagles might have the deepest team with a bevy of talented players from the ISL. Coached by John Joyce, Brian Leetch and Paul Cannata, the Junior Eagles have two committed defensemen in Yale’s Jonathan Lanza (Winthrop, Mass.) of Dexter Southfield and Sacred Heart’s Lenny Greenberg of Belmont Hill. Up front, St. Sebastian’s winger Isaac Mitchell (Harvard, Mass.), Belmont Hill winger Jake McManus (Winthrop, Mass.) and center Brock Cummings are notable players.
16U
Mount Saint Charles, Little Bruins and Seacoast Performance Academy will each look to break a nearly 20-year drought for the region at this age group. The last team that won a 16U national championship was Mid Fairfield in 2005.
Mount Saint Charles has a depleted roster from the one that made a deep run in 2022 at 15 Only. The program lost James Hagens and Jack Parsons to the NTDP and Will Felicio and Sacha Boisvert to the USHL. There is still a significant amount of talent, especially up front, with the likes of Providence commit JJ Monteiro (Hudson, Mass.), Harvard recruit Chase Stefanek, UMass commit Theo Kiss and Boston University recruit Cal Hughes.
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The Little Bruins are a deep group led by Milton Academy goaltender Sam Caulfield. Up front, Dennis Davidson (Newton, Mass.), Ethan Cox (Westboro, Mass.) Teddy MacAusland (Weston, Mass.) and Ben Nakata (Barnstable, Mass.) lead the way.
Seacoast Performance Academy upset the New England Districts by defeating Mount Saint Charles in overtime of the finals. The group is led by defenseman Deke Davidson (Newmarket, N.H.) and forwards Ronnie Hill (Saco, Maine), Kole Hyles (Exeter, N.H.) and Max Dineen (Ashburnham, Mass.).
15O
The 15 Only division has only been around since 2017 and has been dominated by teams from the midwest after the first two champions were crowned. Yale Junior Bulldogs and Buffalo Junior Sabres captured the first two titles, but Little Caesars, Honeybaked, and Chicago Mission have won the next three.
Mount Saint Charles, Mid Fairfield Rangers and Neponset Valley River Rats head to the Ice Vault in Wayne, N.J., with aspirations to bring the trophy back to the New England region for the first time since 2017.
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Mount Saint Charles is led by four players who will spend a few days at USA Hockey’s NTDP Evaluation Camp in Plymouth, Mich., before heading to nationals. Forwards Conrad Fondrk and Nicholas Whitehead and defensemen Carter Amico (Portland, Maine) and Matthew Grimes are the leaders for Scott Gainey’s team. Heading into nationals, Mount Saint Charles certainly gives the region the best chance for a national championship at 15 Only.
Mid Fairfield is led by defenseman Anthony Bongo (Ridgefield, Conn.), who will be joining the aforementioned foursome from Mount Saint Charles at the USA Hockey NTDP Evaluation Camp. Michael Mardula is the team’s top offensive threat and Steven Luciano (New Canaan, Conn.) is a valuable goaltender for the team.
The River Rats are led offensively by Avon Old Farms sophomore Michael Munroe (Hanover, Mass.). On defense, the team was led in the fall by New Hampton freshman Marco Senerchia (Greenfield, R.I.) and Pingree sophomore Collin Rowe (Andover, Mass.). St. Mary’s freshman goaltender Anthony Palmer has proven to be one of the best goaltenders in the country at this birth year.
14U
The Boston Junior Eagles and Mount Saint Charles, the two automatic bid recipients, are the only representation from the region at 14U, which will be played at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich. A team from the region hasn’t won at this level since 2007 when Mid Fairfield captured the crown in Buffalo.
Boston Junior Eagles, the only full-season team of note in Massachusetts, won the state championship a couple of weekends ago. The top players for David Hymovitz’s team are forwards Spencer Thornborough and Myles Mireault and defenseman Brady Sloper.
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Mount Saint Charles was the clearcut top team in the New England District and one of the top throughout the country for most of the season. The team is led by forwards Matthew Krayer, Jamie Glance, Dylan Dean and Will Bent.
It’s another talented group built by Frank and John O’Connor.
