NAPHL announces Top Prospect Tournament rosters and schedule
April 22, 2016
The North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL) has announced the rosters for the 2016 NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament, which will be held from May 13-15 at the Braemar Arena in Edina, Minnesota.
The event will be broadcast live on FASTHockey. More information for the event, including hotels, car rental, tickets, schedule and more can be found at the NAHL’s Robertson Cup website: http://nahl.com/robertson-cup/
As a new element this year, the NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament will played in conjunction with the North American Hockey League's (NAHL) Robertson Cup Championship. This coincides with the NAHL’s announcement that the league will return to the format of hosting the Robertson Cup Championship, which will feature the four divisional winners of the NAHL Robertson Cup Playoffs competing for the NAHL’s annual National Championship.
At the event, four teams representing four regions of the NAPHL – Central, North, South and West - will each play four games. Each team consists of a 20-man roster (12 forwards, 6 defensemen and 2 goalies) as chosen by the NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament Selection Committee as nominated by the league’s 18 head coaches. All the players in the NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament came from teams that played in the 18U Division this past season.
2016 NAPHL Top Prospects schedule:
Friday, May 13th: Central vs. North, 12:30pm; South vs. West, 12:45pm
Saturday, May 14th: Central vs. South, 10:30am; North vs. West, 11:00am; Central vs. West, 5:00pm; North vs. South, 5:30pm
Sunday, May 15th: Championship Game, 10:00am; Consolation Game, 10:15am
In addition to both the NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament and the NAHL Robertson Cup Championship, there will also be a new North American Hockey League Future Prospects (NAFP) Combine during the four-day event. The Future Prospects Combine (FPC) is an innovative and unique event designed to provide exposure and education for hockey prospects that strive to play junior hockey in a premier league like the NAHL. The event will be for players born in 2000-2003 that will be introduced to and provided with a weekend that involves the 'NAHL Experience,' which will consist of competitive hockey, education of the future levels of hockey, academic preparation for NCAA hockey and exposure to professional, college, and junior scouts.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our NAPHL players to play in front of a great variety of scouts and coaches who will be attending this great event. Combined with the NAHL’s Robertson Cup Championship, as well as, our NAFP Combine, the addition of the NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament will add to an already exciting event,” said NAPHL Director Lucas Trombetta. “Statistics and history has shown that the majority of players who play in the NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament each season end up with an opportunity at the higher levels of junior hockey in leagues like the NAHL.”
This season marks the seventh NAPHL Top Prospects Tournament, which began back in 2010. It marks the first time since 2013 that the event will be held in conjunction with the NAHL’s Robertson Cup Championship event.
