HACKENSACK, N.J. – Championship weekend kicked off with a bang at Ice House Arena, with 14U AA and 16U AA Pennsylvania divisions ending with a one goal differential. In the 14U division, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms bested Palmyra Black Knights 2-1 in regulation, and at 16U, Team Philadelphia squeezed out an overtime win against the Valley Forge Colonials.
The Tier-II national bound tournament is a best-of-three series between the two teams advancing out of the prior week’s qualifier tournament.
In the Team Philadelphia versus Valley Forge Colonials matchup, Team Philadelphia Looked poised to run away with the game up until halfway through the second period. They managed to score a goal in the first and early in the second, before Valley Forge woke up and scored their first goal of the game at 9:40 in the second. Just before the intermission, Valley Forge tied it up.
The third period saw Team Philadelphia score one goal halfway to earn the advantage. And what seemed like it would be a victory for Team Philadelphia was interrupted with a goal by Valley Forge’s Benjamin Ferraro with just 18 seconds in the game. With the game pushed to overtime, it was an all out battle until Team Philadelphia’s Colin Daugherty put one past the keeper assisted by Black Krecker.