WEST CHESTER, Pa. — On Friday, the road to nationals began speeding towards its final destination, as we kicked off the National Bound Championship Tournament. Some of the best teams in the Atlantic Affiliate squared off with a trip to the USA Hockey National Championships on the line.
“It was a great day of hockey here at Ice Line,” said AAHA President Glenn Hefferan. “We’re beyond proud to crown our District Champions from such a worthy pool of teams. We know they’ll do an excellent job of representing the Atlantic Affiliate at Nationals.”
Tier II Youth
The first domino in the PA-14AA division fell, as Genesis Hockey Club defeated the Wissahocken Warriors. Genesis struck quickly with a power play goal from Aiden North, taking a 1-0 lead into the second period. Neither team were able to muster any points until the opening minutes of the third period, when the Warriors’ William Podulka tied the game. That seemed to wake Genesis up, as came screaming back to take the lead again with a goal from Declan Leahy. Genesis played throttling defense for the remainder of the game, finally scoring an empty net goal with thirty seconds remaining to put the game out of reach. These two teams will meet again on Saturday, in what could potentially be the decisive game.
Tier I Girls
The Girls-14U AAA Philadelphia Jr. Flyers began their best-of-three series against the New Jersey Colonials with a bang, scoring unanswered goals enroute to a 5-1 victory. They were led by Rachel Steward, who scored once in each of the first two periods to galvanize her team. These two teams will meet again tomorrow, where the Flyers will have a chance to sew up the series and punch their ticket to Vegas. Or will the Colonials bounce back from this loss and force a Game 3?
Tier II Girls
It was a battle of the Tiger Lilies in the Girls-14 AA division, as the third seed Princeton Tiger Lilies Black took on the Princeton Tiger Lilies Orange. It was a defensive struggle throughout the contest, with the game’s first goal, scored by the Black, coming with just five minutes remaining in the third period. Staring down elimination, the Orange were able to score a clutch goal with just 12 seconds on the clock to tie the game and send it to overtime. There, Samantha Lui drilled the game winning goal to deliver the Tiger Lillies Black the win.
Jack Williams