The first round of pre-Christmas holiday tournaments have come to a close around the region, and New England Hockey Journal went to the majority of the major events, including the Avon Old Farms 38th Annual Christmas Classic, 56th Annual Flood-Marr Hockey Tournament, St. Sebastian’s School Mutch Cup Hockey Tournament and 47thAnnual Groton/Lawrence Holiday Tournament.
Kent School captured the Avon title with an overtime victory over the host Winged Beavers. Auburn, N.H. native Jordin Palmer played a strong two-way game against St. Paul's on the tournament's first day. Dexter Southfield ran the table against opposition at the Groton/Lawrence event, while Northwood School and Brunswick battled to a 2-2 tie that saw an undecided overtime period result in Northwood taking the shootout and the Mutch Cup.
The Flood-Marr co-hosts battled in a close game, but Nobles prevailed over Milton to capture the trophy by a 2-1 score. A late, sharp-angle goal by Roman Tacelli (Needham, Mass.) beat Milton goaltender Jake Cardonick with less than five minutes in regulation to break a 1-1 tie on goals from Ben MacDonald (Weston, Mass.) and Mikka Kelechian.
