The Tier 1 Labor Day Face Off will bring together several of the top midget and bantam teams to rinks throughout Massachusetts, including the Foxboro Sports Center, New England Sports Center, New England Sports Village and Rodman Arena.
There will be numerous divisions, but the 18U Elite, 16U Elite, 15U Elite, and 14U Elite are the four brackets that most scouts and college coaches will focus on from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2.
The Tier 1 Labor Day Face Off is routinely one of the top midget events on the scouting calendar in New England. It's a good opportunity for college coaches and scouts to get an initial look at the top full-season and split-season midget teams in the region. Further, there are usually several teams from outside of New England that boast high-end talent.
The 18U Elite Division features the Junior Eagles, Mid Fairfield, Cape Cod Whalers, Little Bruins, Junior Bruins Bohan (formerly GBL Bruins), Junior Bruins USPHL and NE Fall Prep, among others.
The top attraction at the 18U Elite Division is Harvard recruit John Farinacci, a center out of the Dexter School who will play for the Junior Eagles. After a stellar Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in early August, his stock has soared among NHL scouts. Junior Eagles teammate Jayden Struble, a Northeastern recruit and St. Sebastian's defenseman, is also on scouts' radar. The Cumberland, R.I., native is set to play in the USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game on Sept. 19 in Saint Paul, Minn.
Two players from the Little Bruins who will join Farinacci and Struble at the All-American Prospects game are defensemen Braden Doyle and Cade Webber. Both are Boston University commits, with the former at Lawrence Academy and the latter at Rivers.
The Junior Bruins Bohan, more commonly referred to as the GBL Bruins, will have several of the top players fNrom Kimball Union, including NHL Draft prospects Christian Felton and Arlo Merritt.
Many of the same organizations will be heavily scouted at the 16U level. The Junior Eagles and Mid Fairfield are the teams to beat, but the New Jersey Rockets, Buffalo Jr. Sabres, Jersey Hitmen, Cape Cod Whalers, NE Fall Prep, Islanders USPHL Full Season, Northern Cyclones, and Junior Bruins are all worth keeping an eye on.
Those teams will feature several candidates for the National Team Development Program's next crop, comprised of 2003-born players. Be sure to watch for Anthony Agostinelli (Buffalo Jr. Sabres), Mike Bevilacqua (Buffalo Jr. Sabres), Tyler Boucher (Mid Fairfield), Paul Davey (Mid Fairfield), Tim Delay (Junior Eagles), Brendan Fitzgerald (Islanders FS USPHL), Jack Hughes (Junior Eagles) and Ryan St. Louis (Mid Fairfield).
NE Fall Prep, Junior Eagles, Cape Cod Whalers and Mid Fairfield are the teams to keep an eye on at the U15 level.
At the 14U level, the two teams to watch for are the South Shore Kings and the Minuteman Flames. Defenseman Chris Romaine of the South Shore Kings is one of the top blue liners in the nation among 2004-born players.
