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Little Caesars women capture Senior A National Title

Since 1981 all but one women’s Senior A National Champion has come from Massachusetts or Minnesota.

But Little Caesars changed that. Behind stellar goaltending and a balanced attack that led the entire tournament in all defensive and offensive categories, Little Caesars swept all five contests in West Chester, PA to capture the Senior A National Championship on March 30.

Goaltender Anna VanderMarliere faced 107 shots, turning aside all but six to post a 1.20 GAA and a .944 save percentage, while teammates Manon Rheaume (6G, 6A) and team captain Sarah Clark (4G, 5A) provided the offensive firepower.

Along the way, coach Bill Ciraulo and his crew had to overcome not only last season’s champion Minnesota Blue J’s (defeated 5-0) but last season’s runners-up Massachusetts Needham Huskies twice (4-2 and 5-3). Along the way Buffalo’s Depew Saints (3-2) and Massachusetts second entry, Assabet (2-0), also fell victim to rush of Orange and Powder Blue.

Rounding out the team on the nearly impenetrable defense are assistant captains Tina Ciraulo (also making the top ten in scoring with 2G and 2A) and Joanie Denby, Kristy Reinhardt and Kristi Thome. On the offensive side Brooke Sharrard, Tara Boliard, Meghann Schlaff, Amy Shepler, Alanna Pfeffer, Lindsey Akers, Amber Majorana and Rosie Cardillo.

O'Leary Hawks make finals at Senior B Nationals

For the second year in a row the O'Leary Hawks finished with the Silver medal at the Senior B national tournament, held this year in West Chester (PA).

The Hawks opened with a 4-1 loss against the Syracuse Warriors, but rebounded with a win over in-state rival Black Beauty (6-1) and a 2-0 victory over defending national champion Minnesota Blue J Hawks. Tiffany Ribble earned the shut out against the Blue J Hawks.

After a 3-1 win over Massachusetts in the quarterfinals, the Hawks beat Vermont, 3-2, on defenseman Crystal Miotke’s shot from the slot that hit the upper corner of the net for game winning goal.
In a rematch against the Warriors in the final, the Hawks fell behind Syracuse in the middle period, had some good chances and hit the post twice in the third period, but couldn't break through the Warriors goalie. Syracuse then scored with six minutes left and held on for a 2-0 win.

The O'Leary Hawks finished the season 35-13-4. Team members include: Melanie Appel, Ashley Busa, Dori Borden, Rhonda Carveth, Vicki Crimmins, Nicole Falardeau, Kelly Hamilton, Kelly Hammond, Kim Kelemen, Crystal Miotke, Chicky McFarlane, Kate Pinhey, Tiffany Riblle, Alison Ross, Michelle Saunders, Sara Sharp, Carrie Sirola, and Marcie Walker. The team is coached by Andrea Layman, assistants are Robin Demarest and Ann Dobija. Team manager is Carrie Sirola.

Little Caesars wins 14U Tier 1 National title

Shur stops 37 shots in 2-0 win over Chicago in the final

By Carl Chimenti

Little Caesars used the terrific goaltending of Jeremy Shur to help secure a 2-0 win over the Chicago Mission and the USA Hockey 14U Tier 1 national title in Hackensack (NJ) on April 6.

Shur stopped all 37 shots to cap a great season in which Little Caesars won their league title in the MWEHL, beat Honeybaked for the state title and ran the table with a perfect 6-0 record to take home the national hardware.

“This was our goal and the boys accomplished that with a win over a very tough Chicago Mission,” said Little Caesars coach Mike Brown. “We were rated number one in the country and our kids had to carry that on their backs all year but to their credit they did not falter.”

The two teams battled through a physical first period and with one minute to go a Chicago goal was disallowed because of goaltender interference. Then just 30 seconds later Little Caesars’ Dominick Shine scored what proved to be the game winner. The crafty right winger - who scored four goals and seven points in the six tournament games - intercepted an errant pass, walked in alone and let go a wrist shot that beat Mission goaltender Wes Anderson.

It was the second straight game that Shine had performed in heroic fashion, as he scored a hat trick in a 6-2 come-from-behind win over Dallas in the the semifinals.

After a scoreless middle frame, Jonathan Miller picked up a loose puck and sent a perfect feed to Kacper Guzik, who let go a rocket of a shot that caught the far side of the net to close out the scoring. Like Shine, Guzik also scored four goals among his seven points.

Vince Trochek who lead Little Caesars in scoring during the tournament with 5 goals and 4 assist, nearly made it 3-0 when he rang one of the cross bar with less then four minutes to go in the game.

Despite the success of the troika snipers, Little Caesars won on the strength of their goaltending, which carried them all season long. Josh Forrester and Jeremy Shur combined to give Little Caesars the best one-two punch in the league, with nearly identical records. Forrester appeared in 35 games posting a record of 28-4-4 with a 1.77 goals against average, during the regular season and playoffs and won two games including a shutout over Shattuck St. Mary’s in the final round robin game of the tournament. Shur’s numbers were even more impressive. The young netminder who was one of seven players who returned from last year’s team went 35-1-1 with six shutouts and a sparkling 1.47 goals against.

“Through out the year Jeremy always came out big in the big games,” said Brown who has been coaching in the Little Caesars organization for the past seven years, winning a National title in 2004, before taking over the 93’s this season. “He is just gamer. Jeremy thrives under pressure.”

Little Caesars opened up the tournament with three round robin wins over the Rochester Alliance, Pittsburgh Hornets and Shattuck. In the quarterfinal game Little Caesars beat the Mid Fairfield Blues, 6-3, and then were given a scare in the semifinals, spotting the Texas Attack a 2-0 lead before storming back with six unanswered goals including three from Shine.

“Our team was strong all year,” said Brown. “And we got the breaks we needed to come out on top.”

Other Little Caesars team members include Austin Giblin, Jimmy McDowell III, Kenneth Miloser, Connor Schmidt, Nicolas Horne, Cory Czarnik, Zachary Badalmenti, Matthew DeBlouw, Tyler Murray, Austin Carroll, Jacob McDowell, and Ricky Steenland.

Late goal gives Little Caesars 16U national title

Obarzanek breaks tie in 4-3 win over South Shore in final

By Carl Chimenti

After taking a 3-0 lead, Little Caesars held off a furious South Shore comeback and beat the Dynamos, 4-3, to win the USA Hockey 16U Tier 1 national title on April 6 in Amherst, New York.

South Shore scored a pair of power play goals 1:08 apart late in the second period and tied the game 30 seconds into the third period. Little Caesars thwarted the comeback bid on a late goal from Stephen Obarzanek and held on for the win.

“It was almost two different games,” said Little Caesars head coach Craig Furstenau. “We controlled the first half and in the second half (South Shore) worked hard and were able to get back in the game.”

Obarzanek and Justin DeMartino, who lead Little Caesars in scoring during the tournament with identical stats of five goals an10 points, collaborated on the winning goal. DeMartino fed a perfect strike from long range to Obarzanek, who sent a wrist shot to the top corner of the net over the blocker of South Shore goaltender Derek Metcalfe.

“We have out chanced our opponents all season,” said Furstenau. “This is a very balanced team that gets contributions from all our players.”

Little Caesars Nico Sierra opened the scoring just 42 seconds into the game, and took a 2-0 lead on a powerplay goal from Jacob Goldberg later in the period.

Little Caesars continued it’s relentless attack in the second period - controlling both the speed and tempo of the game. With South Shore struggling to get the puck out of their zone, Dynamo goalie Donny McGuirl got caught out of position and DeMartino scored into the empty net to give his team a 3-0 lead.

Metcalfe came in to replace McGuirl in the net and the switch seemed to spark South Shore. Little Caesars also took some penalties and the Dynamos scored two powerplay goals late in the middle period.

With the momentum clearly shifted, South Shore tied it, 3-3, in the early moments of the third period that set up Obarzanek’s winner.

Little Caesars got off to a slow start in the tournament losing 6-3 to the Pittsburgh Hornets in the opening game of the round robin.

“It was our first game that we played since winning the state finals,” explained Furstenau. “I don’t think we played horrible, but we were rusty and playing on an Olympic size ice pad got us off to a slow start.”

It was the last game that Little Caesars would lose. Behind goaltender Michael Houser, Little Caesars reeled off five straight wins beating the Long Island Royals and Shattuck St. Mary to finish off the round robin.

Little Caesars then eliminated Team Illinois in quarterfinal play and then advanced to the finals by beating the Colorado Thunderbirds 6-2 in the semifinals.

Houser was terrific posting a perfect 5-0 record with a 1.16 goals against average and a .954 save percentage. In the semifinal win against Colorado, DeMartino and Rocco Grimaldi paced the victors with a pair of goals each.

“We got off to a slow start in the tournament,” said Furstenau. “But we just got better and better as the tournament went on.”

Other Little Caesars team members include Jake Chelios, Nickolas Marsh, Brent Tate, Joseph Zarzycki, Saverlo Posa, Salvatore Munaco, Eric Preston, John DeMartino, Kord Miller and Patrick Summers.

Rochester wins 14U Tier II national title

Rattlers beat Indianapolis, 2-0, in USA Hockey final

By Terry Jacoby

Drake Turcotte wasn’t surprised when his Rochester Rattlers skated to a USA Hockey 14U Tier II national championship on April 6 in New Jersey. That’s because any team that survives the run to Michigan state champion is well prepared to take on any team in the country.

“What really helped us at nationals was the great competition we faced not only in the state tournament, but throughout the year,” Turcotte said. “There are so many great teams in Michigan and we don’t pad our schedule. We only play in triple-A tournaments and face the best teams we can find.”

Turcotte’s Rattlers brought home the big prize, winning a national championship and capping off a season that started with high expectations.

“We took the ice on August 1 and our goal was to win the national championship from day one,” said Turcotte.

The Rattlers stormed through the LCAHL Howe Division, taking first place with a 17-1-3 record and beat Taylor in the state finals to earn a trip to Hackensack.

But it didn’t take long for the Rattlers to learn that this wasn’t going to be a Jersey cakewalk.
Rochester got smacked in the first game by a team from Niagara, N.Y.

“We had a three week layoff between states and nationals and we were rusty,” Turcotte said. “But the good news was we were healthy and confident. Everyone was going to take their best shot against us because we were the No. 1 ranked team. And Niagara just went out and beat us.”
Turcotte knew though that his team could play much better. And that’s exactly what they did. The Rattlers finished 2-1 in the round-robin portion of the tournament with wins over Indianapolis (5-4 in a shootout) and Alaska (8-3).

In the quarterfinals, the Rattlers knocked off an “overconfident” team from the St. Louis area.
“They thought they were going to walk all over us,” Turcotte said. “And their attitude really fired us up.”

The Rattlers ended up outshooting them 48-18 to win the game 5-2. Rochester then beat a Los Angeles select team 3-1.

“We led 3-0 but they never gave up,” Turcotte said. “We were in control the whole game but they never quit. They were a good team.”

The final was a rematch with the Indianapolis Racers. Rochester took a 1-0 lead with 1:40 left in the first period on a goal by Matt Buccellato. His shot from the top of the left circle hit a skate and ricocheted into the Indianapolis net.

“It’s all about momentum," said Turcotte, whose team scored first in every game in the tournament. “We are strong in net and have great blueliners so we aren’t an easy team to beat coming from behind.”

AJ English made it 2-0 when he scored with 3:36 left in the second period.

Those “blueliners” and goaltender Tyler Everlove took over in the third period. Indianapolis managed only four shots in the final period as Rochester won 2-0.

“Tyler was outstanding for us all season, but really raised his game in the final,” Turcotte said. “They all did. The whole team played a solid game in the final.

“There were 392 teams in the country and we finished No. 1 out of all of them. I think what really set us apart was our depth. Most teams have seven or eight really good players. But we had more than that and players that we could interchange. We had six 20-plus goal scorers and great team chemistry.”

The Rattlers finished the season 56-9-6 and mission accomplished.

Belle Tire takes 16U Tier II national championship

Depth helps squad come away with 5-2 win over Omaha in final

By Terry Jacoby

Steve Glover should consider a job as a master planner.

Two years ago Glover set forth on a plan to take a group of kids and make them into champions. That plan was accomplished earlier this month when his Belle Tire team won the 16U Tier II national championship in Buffalo, N.Y.

“What I did was take the best three or four players from the worst teams and built my team that way,” Glover said. “We took players from teams that finished in the lower half of their division the year before. I knew they were good, but I also knew they would be hungry to be successful.”

The strategy worked. Belle Tire went 22-0 in LCAHL and quickly became the team to beat.
The coach also had a master plan when it came to strategy on the ice.

“Everyone played,” Glover said. “We ran four lines all the time, no matter the score or competition. Our goalies rotated every game. We had such great depth that we simply wore a lot of teams down.”

Glover was confident heading into the state playoffs despite his team’s lack of big-game experience.
“Most of these players had never made it to a state tournament before, but they were all good players,” Glover said. “And they played well together. There was really good chemistry.”

In the state final Belle Tire beat rival Canton, 5-1, to earn the trip to Buffalo.

“Canton was the only midget team we lost to during the season,” Glover said. “We felt like we owed them.”

At the national tournament, Belle Tire went 2-1 in round-robin play, including a 9-3 loss to a team from North Dakota. It was 2-2 after the first period before North Dakota rang up six goals in the second period.

“You could say that woke us up a little bit,” Glover said.

Belle Tire defeated the Rhode Island Saints 3-2 in overtime to win the quarterfinal game. And then Glover’s team needed overtime again to beat the Texas Attack in the semifinals. In fact, Belle Tire trailed 3-1 with seven minutes to play and scored two shorthanded goals to tie it.

“Texas was very big and very fast,” said Glover, whose team won 5-4. “Like usual, we took a lot of penalties. But I like to put three forwards on the ice to kill penalties and we scored two shorthanded goals to tie the game.”

Needless to say, Belle Tire was feeling pretty good to be playing in the championship game against the Omaha Jr. Lancers.

“We were just happy to be there,” Glover said. “It was a pretty tough road to get there. But I knew we had a good chance of winning it. They beat the North Dakota team and I think they were a little overconfident. That worked in our favor.”

Mitch Brinker’s backhander and Michael Ericson’s rebound gave Belle Tire a 2-0 lead in the first period. Just 36 seconds after Ericson’s goal, Nick Asaro scored to make it 3-0 and it looked like Belle Tire would roll over Omaha.

But nothing had come easy so far – and the Jr. Lancers scored twice in the second period – including one with just 7.5 seconds left on the clock – to make it 3-2.

“We had a little bit of a letdown,” Glover said.

But Belle Tire regrouped and Leo Bieniek and Ericson each scored goals in the first five minutes of the third period and Lyle Baumgarten, who made 21 saves, shut out Omaha the rest of the way.

“We carried 20 players who really worked hard and wanted to win,” Glover said. There were no stars on our team. The fact that everyone contributed and everyone worked hard were big factors in our success.”

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