Down to the Wire on Day 2 of the Dixon Cup

Day two of the Dixon Cup playoffs raised the stakes and the intensity. With elimination games looming and semifinal spots on the line, the action was faster, heavier, and packed with clutch performances that reshaped the bracket. Below are a few recaps from across today’s battles, and you can click here to view all of the final scores.

18U:

CarShield AAA skated to a pair of shutout wins on Saturday, first earning a 3–0 victory over the Pittsburgh Stars. Devon Hobson opened the scoring in the first period on the power play, Zachary Pruss added a second-period goal to extend the lead, and Thomas Pickett sealed the win in the third, while Miles Jensen stopped all 17 shots he faced for the shutout. CarShield completed the sweep later in the day with a 7–0 win over the Philadelphia Hockey Club. After a scoreless first, CarShield erupted for four second-period goals, including tallies from Luke Walter, Nathen Jastrzebski, and Keaton Johnson. They kept rolling in the third with goals from Brady Bates and two from Landon Rogers, while Eddie Gatch turned aside all 18 shots he faced to secure the second shutout of the day.

In the first game of the day, Seattle squared off with Compuware. Compuware’s Gabe Williams broke the ice early in the game with his first goal of the Dixon Cup. Seattle had a quick response, as Wyatt Siler’s second tally of the tournament knotted the game back up at 1-1. The score remained deadlocked to the first period buzzer. Compuware got its lead back thanks to Adam Lyndon’s third goal of the tournament. The Kraken again found an answer before the end of the period, this time off the stick of Cullen Roger via the power play. Roger’s second of the event sent the game to the third period with an even 2-2 score. Ethan Rubio finally got Seattle its first lead of the game with just over 10 minutes to play with his second of the tournament. Liam Cain added much-needed insurance with a power-play goal with just under six ticks left on the clock. Compuware never found the back of the net again as Seattle skated away from Game 1 with a 4-2 win.

Seattle got off to an early lead in its second game of the day. Nathan White (fourth) scored a power-play goal just 40 seconds into the game to put the kraken ahead. The Giants answered shortly after thanks to a short-handed goal from Brayden Slack (third). The Kraken were not phased and posted two more goals before the end of the first period. Rubio (third) and Cain (fifth) found the back of the net in the late stages to give their squad a 3-1 lead after 17 minutes. The scoring did not stop for the Kraken in the second period, as they took advantage of Giants penalties and scored three power-play goals. Siler (third), Jake Kennedy (fourth) and Max Germann (first) were the goal scorers for Seattle in the period. The Giants posted one tally in the middle frame off the stick of Riley Mellin, but the teams ended the middle frame with Seattle leading 6-2. Slack got the Giants back within three with an early-period power-play goal, but Kraken goaltender Jaedin Mulvaney and the rest of the Seattle defense stood tall to secure the 6-3 win and a two-game sweep on the day.

16U:

The Madison Capitols beat Carshield AAA in this Dixon Division matchup with a 6-3 victory. Thanks to a lofty first period, the Capitols were able to snag an early lead and stay at an arm’s length to finish off the opposing Carshield. Aidan Hayes got the night started with a rebound goal for the first and only Carshield lead. Just 19 seconds later, Easten Brown pocketed the puck on the rush to even the scoring. Minutes later, Griffin Nelson tacked on and Brown followed with his second goal of the game, this time on the power play. The second period took some time to find any scoring, but Carter Oliphant broke that trend with a power play goal to extend the Madison lead to 4-1. With 13 seconds left in the frame, Connor Kaiman cut the lead in half with the first Carshield goal in about a period and a half. The next goal was a big one, and thankfully for the Capitols, it was Nelson scoring his second of the night short-handed. Caden Clark responded for Carshield late on the power play, but it was all too late as Eli Ehrhardt buried a late tally to bolster the Madison victory. The Madison Capitols best asset in this contest was their offensive efficiency. They had outscored or tied Carshield in every period, scored more goals on a similar number of shots, and had four players with multipoint outings. This type of potency will bode well for them as they progress throughout the weekend.

After giving up an early two goal lead, the Omaha Mastery pulled off a gutsy comeback to beat the Philadelphia Hockey Club in overtime. This Dixon Division matchup was a total shootout with the two teams combining for 72 shots and Philadelphia netminder Aidan Wright seeing 49 of them. Andrew Lecce broke the seal about four minutes into the game with a wrister that sneaked its way across the goal line. Then, about eight minutes later, Ayden Whitehurst extended the Philadelphia lead. Harrison Dana responded with just under three minutes left in the first period, and the Omaha Mastery were looking at a one goal deficit heading into the first intermission. The second period had no scoring with shots sitting at 19-5 in favor of Omaha for the frame. The third period looked dire, but Will Tremblay came in with the clutch redirection goal with just over a minute remaining in regulation. The score was tied, overtime was imminent, and both teams were in desperation mode to pick up the ‘W.’ Just around the midpoint of the overtime period, Tremblay put the puck right on Blake Kubesa’s tape who tapped it into the net and sealed the comeback victory. Aidan Wright of the Philadelphia Hockey Club deserves a lot of credit in this game for stopping a stellar 46 shots again 49 attempts. Despite this outstanding performance, the Omaha Mastery were simply too overwhelming in the late stages of the contest and did an excellent job of finishing this game out.

On Saturday, the Tri-State Spartans played against the Vegas Jr. Golden Knights. The game would prove to be a close one, with neither team able to get on the board during the first period. In the second period, Vegas forward William Parsons was able to take advantage of the power play and score a goal at 16:46. In the third period, the Spartans remained unable to get on the board and the Jr. Golden Knights blanked the Spartans 1-0. Koby Praesirivothiphone started in net for Vegas and shut out the Spartans by making all saves on the 13 shots faced. Adam Grinfeld started in net for the Spartans and made 34 saves on 35 shots. 

On Saturday, Compuware faced off against the Danbury Hat Tricks. Danbury got on the board first and forward Nick Funaro scored the lone goal of the first period on the power play at 7:37. In the second period, Compuware began its comeback with forward Ronin Malloy scoring at 15:13 and defenseman Emery Wise scoring at 11:17. In the third period, Wise scored his second of the game at 11:21 to cap off a 3-1 win for Compuware. Calvin Carmickle started in net for Compuware and made 29 saves on 30 shots. Tristan Kamp started in net for the Hat Tricks and made 17 saves on 20 shots.

14U:

Omaha Mastery pulled off a dramatic comeback, erasing a multi-goal deficit and defeating CarShield in a shootout. Omaha struck first on the power play for the lone goal of the opening period, but CarShield responded in the second with three straight goals, two on the man advantage, before the Mastery grabbed one late to make it 3–2 heading into the third. In the final frame, Cooper Moragues buried a shorthanded tally for his second of the night to force overtime. After a scoreless extra session, Levi Falcone and Moragues delivered in the shootout to complete the comeback victory.

13U:

The Hartland Huskies dominate the Vegas Jr. Golden Knights to secure a 3-0 win. Scoring one goal in each period, including a power play goal in the first, the Huskies had a strong offensive performance while limiting Vegas to just four total shots. The Golden Knights goaltender kept the score relatively close, but the offense could not maintain enough pressure to pose a threat to Hartland. Christian Phelps stopped all four shots he faced to secure the 3-0 shutout.