Atlantic Youth Hockey League

AYHL Championship Sunday Recap

Release Date : 3/03/2014

HACKENSACK, NJ – The Atlantic Youth Hockey League held its playoffs this past weekend at the Ice House, the home of the North Jersey Avalanche organization, in Hackensack, New Jersey. When the dust settled, eight champions were crowned in an action-packed weekend.

In the Squirt Minor Division, after advancing to the semifinal round on goal differential, the New Jersey Colonials jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead in the Championship game and then never looked back, defeating the Valley Forge Minutemen by the score of 6-1. Forward Jack McKenna (’04 birth year/Morristown, NJ) notched a pair of goals in the victory and picked up the All-American Forward Award. Goaltender Nathaniel Joglekar (’03 birth year/Warren, NJ) made twenty-three saves for the Colonials, picking up the Great American Goalie Award. Defenseman Alec Whipple (’04 birth year/Far Hills, NJ) was named the All-American Defenseman, making it a clean sweep for the Colonials.

In the Squirt Major Division, Team Comcast avenged a round-robin loss to the New Jersey Colonials by defeating the Colonials in the Championship game by defeating their in-state rival by the score of 4-0. After a scoreless first, Team Comcast put a two-spot on the board on a pair of power play goals from Jason Player (’03 birth year/Mount Royal, NJ) and Josh Karnish (’03 birth year/Marlton, NJ) and then rode goaltender Andrew Lavdas (’03 birth year/Marlton, NJ) who made thirteen saves in the shutout victory. Lavdas shutout the highest scoring offense in the Squirt Division Playoffs and was named the Great American Goalie. It was a clean sweep of the individual awards for Team Comcast as Player was named the All-American Forward and John Sullivan (’03 birth year/Turnersville, NJ) was named the All-American Defenseman.

In the Pee Wee Minor Division, it was the battle of the top two seeds in the Championship Game as the New Jersey Colonials took on the Long Island Royals. The Colonials jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals from Robert Barrasso (’02 birth year/Mountain Lakes, NJ) and Jason Siedem (’02 birth year/Madison, NJ). The Royals answered with a pair of second period goals from Nate Hanley (’02 birth year/Rocky Point, NY) and Spence Evans (’02 birth year/Oyster Bay, NY) but the Colonials responded with another goal from Siedem, which would prove to be the Championship winning goal. For his two-goal performance, Siedem was named the All-American Forward. Colonials defenseman Damien Carfanga (’02 birth year/Wood-Ridge, NJ) was named the All-American Defenseman and their teammate, Gustave Bylin (’02 birth year/Montclair, NJ) was named the Great American goaltender after his twenty-three save performance in the Championship game.

In the Pee Wee Major Division, the Colonials swept the entire Pee Wee Division by defeating the Mercer Chiefs by the score of 4-2. The Colonials went undefeated in round-robin play and jumped out to a 2-1 first period lead and then added to their lead on a second-period goal from Alexandros Gaffney (’02 birth year/West Orange, NJ) that would prove to be the game-winner. Gaffney was named the All-American Forward following his one goal, two assist performance. Gaffney’s teammate Ryan Siedem (’01 birth year/Madison, NJ) was named the All-American Defenseman and Matthew Schoer (’01 birth year/Long Valley, NJ) was named Great American Goaltender after his twenty save performance in the Colonials victory, completing a perfect playoffs in the crease.

In the Bantam Minor Division, the Philadelphia Little Flyers advanced through a competitive round-robin tournament in which numerous tiebreakers were applied to produce the final four teams, to defeat Team Comcast in the Championship game by the score of 4-1. Forward Matthew Cameron (’00 birth year/Berwyn, PA) had a pair of second period goals, including the eventual game-winner and was named the All-American forward. Cameron’s teammates Jared Hannah (’00 birth year/Pittsgrove, PA) and Andrew Kelly (’00 birth year/Hatfield, PA) were named the All-American Defenseman and Great American Goaltender for their Championship Sunday efforts.

In the Bantam Major Division, forward Evan Barratt (’99 birth year/Bristol, PA) had a hat trick in the Championship Final in leading Team Comcast to a 4-3 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Junior Flyers. Barratt, who was named the All-American Forward, scored three consecutive goals for Team Comcast, who reached the finals as the number four seed in the semifinals. Team Comcast defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (’00 birth year/Voorhees, NJ) was named the All-American Defenseman and Junior Flyers goaltender Jason Grande (’99 birth year/West Chester, PA) was named the Great American Goaltender after keeping the Junior Flyers in a position to nearly win the finals with a twenty-four save performance.

In the Midget U16-American Division, the Philadelphia Junior Flyers defeated the Long Island Royals and the New Jersey Colonials en route to the division championship. In the final game, the Junior Flyers took a 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked back in a 6-1 rout over the Colonials. Forward Connor Leighton (’98 birth year/Allentown, PA) led the offensive attack with four points over the two games and was named the All-American Forward. Defenseman Alex Wilkins (’98 birth year/Kennett Square, PA) anchored the Junior Flyer defense and was named the All-American Defenseman and goaltender Colin Cain (’98 birth year/Hummelstown, PA) was named the Great American goaltender after allowing two goals over the two games, making thirty-nine saves.

In the Midget U16-National Division, the Long Island Gulls used a third-period goal from Dante Palecco (’98 birth year/Whippany, NJ/Yale University), his second goal of the game and fourth point of the weekend, to edge the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Knights by the score of 4-2. The Gulls came into the playoffs as the number four seed, and advanced to the finals by defeating Team Comcast 5-4 on the strength of an Evan Wisocky (’98 birth year/Paramus, NJ) hat-trick and a game winning goal from Adam Fox (’98 birth year/Jericho, NY/Harvard University). Fox was chosen as the All-American Defenseman and the Long Island goaltender Simeon Pincombe (’98 birth year/Skolkie, IL) was named the Great American Goaltender by virtue of his two playoff wins.

“The AYHL had a great weekend in Hackensack,” said AMHL President Gene Palecco. “Each division had a fantastic showing with exciting, clean, competitive games. We hope that parents, players and fans had as exciting of a time as we did in putting the event on. We wish all of our teams heading towards the next steps in their nationals pursuit luck!