In the always-changing youth hockey landscape, there will be another league to keep track of for the 2019-20 season.
On Monday evening, it was announced that the Northeast Pack would be forming with four highly competitive teams and an additional team that is expected to be equally as strong.
The five teams in the Northeast Pack are the Buffalo Jr. Sabres, Mount Saint Charles Hockey Academy, North Jersey Avalanche, Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, and Selects Academy at South Kent. All five organizations have full-season bantam and midget teams that will compete in the league.
The Northeast Pack will have 14U, 15 Only, 16U, and 18U divisions. Selects Academy at South Kent won’t have a 14U team. Replacing them in that division will be the Mid-Fairfield Rangers.
According the Northeast Pack’s press release, the league’s mission is “to empower our players and teams to thrive; through focused development, consistent-high-level competition, and a dedication to education.”
The Buffalo Jr. Sabres, North Jersey Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins Elite are leaving the Tier 1 Elite Hockey League. Selects Academy at South Kent had already started to move away from the USPHL.
Mount Saint Charles Hockey Academy is the new program in Woonsocket, R.I. The school had long had a storied hockey tradition in Rhode Island high school ranks, but had fallen on tough times with the advancement of midget hockey and decimation of high school hockey in the region.
The Northeast Pack will have six showcases in the regular season followed by the playoffs on February 22-24, 2020, hosted by the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite at the UPMC Lemieux Complex in Cranberry Township, Pa.
Regular-season events are scheduled for September 13-15, 2019 at The Ice House in Hackensack, N.J., October 18-20, 2019 at Selects Academy at South Kent, November 15-17, 2019 at the Buffalo Jr. Sabres’ HarborCenter, December 13-15, 2019 at Mount Saint Charles, January 17-19, 2020 at UPMC Lemieux Complex, and February 7-9 at The Ice House in Hackensack, N.J.
North Jersey Avalanche, Mount Saint Charles, Selects Academy at South Kent and Pittsburgh Penguins Elite will also play some events in the highly competitive Beast Series.
Recruiting movement
Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall in terms of the lack of available roster spots at Northeastern, Burlington, Mass., native Robert Griffin announced he had de-committed from the Huskies and plans to enroll at New Hampshire in the fall.
The ’01 right-shot center was once considered one of the top players in New England for the age group. He had a terrific 16U season with the Boston Junior Bruins before playing the past two seasons with the organization’s NCDC team where he struggled to put up similar numbers.
Over the last 113 games, including playoffs, he scored 19 goals and 59 assists. Griffin likely could have benefited from another season of junior hockey, but the Wildcats took a gamble in ensure they got his services.
Also last week, UMass received some good news on the recruiting trail. The Minutemen were the beneficiary of Michigan not having enough scholarship room.
Greg Carvel and his staff landed ’00 left wing Calen Kiefiuk, a three-year junior player with the USHL’s Central Illinois Flying Aces. The Macomb, Mich., native has a high motor, competes hard, and can score.
His production increased in each of his three USHL seasons after playing bantam and midget hockey with Honeybaked. In 2018-19, Kiefiuk scored 15 goals and added 26 assists in 50 games. He tallied 18 goals and 28 assists in 60 games the prior season.
It was welcome news for UMass that learned star defenseman Mario Ferraro would be forgoing his final two seasons of eligibility to sign with the San Jose Sharks, the organization that drafted him in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft.
Boston University added a player and lost a recruit in the same week. The Terriers gained a commitment from ’02 forward Quinn Hutson of the North Jersey Avalanche 16U. The Chicago, Ill., native scored 35 goals and added 26 assists in 47 games for the organization. He joins his younger brother, ’04 defenseman Lane Hutson, in the category of potential future Terriers.
Center Liam Gorman ('00) of St. Sebastian’s de-committed from BU and committed to Princeton, the same school his dad, Sean Gorman, played at from 1987-1991. His dad was a draft pick of the Boston Bruins.
Getting back to Liam, he’s likely to enroll at Princeton right away. The 6-foot-3, Arlington, Mass., native was a sixth round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2018 NHL Draft. He was the top line center for the Arrows.
