It was a wild weekend of hockey around the region.
While the Mass. state tournament took place at New England Sports Center, the Rinks at Exeter hosted the New England District, crowning boys champions at the 18U, 16U and 15O levels.
The winners punched their ticket to USA Hockey Nationals.
All three levels will hold their national championships March 24-29, 2026. The 15Os and 16Us will play in Green Bay, Wis., while the 18Us head to Las Vegas.
Here's a recap of each champion from this weekend.
18U: Mid Fairfield
Despite losing to the Yale Junior Bulldogs on Friday, 5-2, Mid Fairfield won the rest of its games and got revenge against the Junior Bulldogs in Sunday's championship, winning 6-3.
It was quite the game for Trinity-Pawling's Andrew Migliore, who had a hat trick through the second period and added a fourth on the power play in the third. Brunswick's Jack Thompson (New Canaan, Conn.) and Westminster's Owen Burke (Trumbull, Conn.) had the other two goals for Mid Fairfield.
Mid Fairfield got fantastic goaltending from Zai Ferraro (New Canaan, Conn.), as he made 38 saves on 41 shots. He started four of the five games, posting a sparkling 2.62 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. He will be relied on heavily at Brunswick this winter.
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Migliore led Mid Fairfield in goals through the tournament with six, while his nine points were tied with Brunswick forward Keegan Kazan (Wilton, Conn.) for the most on the team. Burke, Timothy Donohue (North Haven, Conn.) and Jack Thompson (New Canaan, Conn.) all registered six points apiece.
On Yale's side, Will Schlechtweg had a fantastic tournament. He registered a goal and an assist in the championship and finished with six goals and 11 points over the five games.
16U: Providence Capitals
The Capitals got a huge win on Sunday, taking down Seacoast Performance Academy, 4-2, in the championship. That made up for losing to SPA, 5-3, on Friday.
Aaron Alves-Thomas was outstanding in the final, making 47 saves on 49 shots. That capped off a fantastic tournament for him. The Boston native had a 2.78 GAA and a .926 save percentage over his four starts. He's entering the prep season with St. Mark's red hot.
Owen Lacamera (Bedford, Mass.) opened the scoring for the Capitals, and Anthony Brunetti (Lewiston, Maine) added another, giving the Caps a 2-0 lead entering the second period. Despite the Capitals giving up goals to Caine Bickel and Tomas Kubis in the second, Providence College commit Caiden Pellegrino (Uxbridge, Mass.) gave the Capitals the lead at the very end of the period. Anthony Oliveri (Worcester, Mass.) added another in the third, putting the game out of reach.
Pellegrino was a step above the competition throughout the fall, but it really showed in the regional tournament. The St. Mark's star had five goals and nine points in five games. Two of those points came in the championship.
Bickel led SPA in goals (six) and points (seven) through five games.
15O: Mount St. Charles
Mount St. Charles waltzed through regionals, taking down Mid Fairfield, 4-0, in the championship, and outscoring opposing teams, 30-5.
In the championship, Mount got goals from MJ Campbell, AJ Foyt, Cruise Armstrong and Drayden Demas. Goalie Elias Hopeman got the 31-save shutout in the final. Both he and fellow netminder Lev Smotkin were outstanding through the five games. Both had GAAs under 1.00 and save percentages at .950 or higher.
READ MORE: 6 standouts from 18U Mass. championship | 7 standouts from 16U Mass. championship | 7 standouts from 15O Mass. championship | 5 standouts from 14U Mass. championship
Forward Thomas Boisvert was his usual dominant self throughout, scoring three times and adding 10 assists in five games.
The best news for Mount St. Charles was that forwards Campbell and Wilson Boumedienne returned, and both made a huge impact. Boumedienne had two goals and nine points, while Campbell had four and eight. Forward Zaac Charbonneau led the team in goals with seven in five games.
