EULESS, Texas — Mid Fairfield’s chance at bringing home the national championship ended in excruciating fashion at the USA Hockey 15 Only National Championship.
One of the top teams in the 2005 birth year for many years, Mid Fairfield lost in a shootout to Florida Alliance in Sunday afternoon’s semifinals. The team, coached by Marty St. Louis and Adam Delgado, was the region’s top hope of winning a national championship at any age division.
Mid Fairfield cruised through the first two games of pool play, downing Team Alaska, 10-3, and Team Wisconsin, 3-0. Surprisingly, Mid Fairfield was upset, 5-3, by North Jersey Avalanche in the final game of pool play. After a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Junior Sabres in Saturday’s quarterfinal, the team bowed out by a score 2-1 at the hands of the Florida Alliance.
Center Brian Nicholas led the way offensively with two goals and five assists. His right wing, Salvatore Guzzo, had four goals and two assists. Both forwards along with center Ryan Fine and defensemen Drew Fortescue, Aram Minnetian and Lucas St. Louis (Riverside, Conn.) received invites to next week’s USA Hockey NTDP Evaluation Camp.
Mount Saint Charles, the only other New England team to make the event just outside of Dallas, struggled to find its way. The team lost two in regulation and dropped another in overtime, failing to make the playoff round. Christian Ventincinque was the only player two score more than a point as he notched two assists.
After blowing a 2-0 lead in the first game of the tournament and losing 4-2 to Team Wisconsin, the North Jersey Avalanche finished strong. The team finished pool play with a 6-5 win over Team Alaska and a 5-3 upset win over Mid Fairfield. The Avs put up a valiant effort in the quarterfinals before eventually falling, 4-3, to Chicago Mission in overtime. Rich Rucireto led the Avs in scoring with four goals and two assists. Goaltender Stephen Peck, headed to the NTDP Evaluation Camp, was solid throughout. The team is coached by former Yale forward Anthony Day and Rob Hutson, the father of Boston University commits Lane and Quinn.
Buffalo Junior Sabres went 2-1 in pool play before being ousted by Mid Fairfield in the quarterfinals. The Sabres beat Shattuck-St. Mary’s and Sioux Falls Power while falling to the Chicago Mission. Zach Derito led the way offensively with four assists.
Detroit Honeybaked captured the national championship at the 15 Only division with a 6-3 win over Florida Alliance in Monday’s championship game. Chicago Mission, the top-ranked team in the country throughout much of the season, was the other semifinalist along with Mid Fairfield.
Stay tuned to New England Hockey Journal later this week as Jeff Cox will have his evaluations of the top players from each division of the USA Hockey Tier 1 Nationals.
