Day 1 of Top Prospects Did Not Disappoint as Selects White Take Down the USNTDP

Selects Blue 6 @ Selects Red 3 - The Selects Blue faced off against the Selects Red at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, at the NAHL’s Top Prospects tournament. The talented players selected for these teams are typically younger and consist of 2006-2009 birth years. The game consists of three 17-minute periods with an intermission half way through the second period. Selects Red strike first at 14:01 of the first on a goal by Evan Hoglund of the Shreveport Mudbugs, assisted by Luke McPherson of the Odessa Jackalopes and Lucca Ori of the Minot Minotauros. Shortly after, the Selects Blue tied it at one on a goal by Jonathan Doucette of the Aberdeen Wings, assisted by Jack Montaldo of the Northeast Generals and Brody Dustin of the Aberdeen Wings. The Selects Blue would take the lead on an unassisted goal by Samuel Misak of the St. Cloud Norsemen, 2-1. In the second, Camden Alemond of the Bismarck Bobcats found the net for the Selects Blue to extend their lead to 3-1. He was assisted by Doucette and Dustin, both of the Aberdeen Wings. Five minutes later, Doucette struck again for his second of the game, extending the Selects Blue lead to 4-1. In the third, Daniel Rassega of the Amarillo Wranglers scored for the Selects Blue, assisted by Vitaliy Korolyuk of the North Iowa Bulls. The Selects Red dug into the deficit with a power play goal by Nathan Walsh of the New Jersey Titans, assisted by McPherson. Two minutes later, McPherson would add another goal, unassisted, for the Selects Red, 5-3. Selects Blue would add another before this one is over by Alec Hall of the Northeast Generals. He was assisted by Kody Moyer of the Northeast Generals and Samuel Misak of the St. Cloud Norsemen. Selects Blue goaltender Ryan Gerlich of the Minnesota Wilderness saved 13 of 14 shots he faced for a 0.929 save percentage. Selects Blue goaltender Ryan Denes of the Maryland Black Bears saved 14 of 16 shots for a 0.875 save percentage. Selects Blue takes this one 6-3.

South @ Midwest 1 - The top players of the South Division faced off against the top players of the Midwest Division at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, at the NAHL’s Top Prospects tournament. The game consists of three 17-minute periods with an intermission halfway through the second period. Parker Newman of the Kenai River Brown Bears got the scoring started for the Midwest Division at 3:52 of the first. He was assisted by Murray Marvin-Cordes of the Janesville Jets. In the second, Easton Swift from the Corpus Christi IceRays got the South Division on the board, assisted by Bronson Sabol of the Oklahoma Warriors. Before the intermission, Caden Ghiossi of the Odessa Jackalopes took the lead for the South 2-1. He was assisted by Grayson Gerhard of the Shreveport Mudbugs and Alfons Jentler of the Amarillo Wranglers. In the third, the lone goal came at the end when the South Division took a penalty with 1:40 left in the game. The Midwest Division decided to risk it all by pulling their goalie for a 6 on 4 advantage. The South Division capitalized on the empty net immediately with an unassisted goal by Maddox Tulacro of the Lone Star Brahmas to seal the 3-1 win. Both teams’ goaltenders stood tall in this matchup, with the South Division’s Michael Modelski of the El Paso Rhinos posting an 0.889 save percentage, saving 8 of 9 shots he faced, and Billy Stuski of the Oklahoma Warriors posting a shutout while in net the second half. The Midwest’s Miles Roberts of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs posted a 0.944 save percentage, and the Minnesota Wilderness’ Valdemar Andersen posted a 0.909 save percentage.

East 0 @ Central 3 - The Top Prospects in the Central Division of the NAHL went head-to-head and absolutely shredded the East with a three-nothing shutout for Beck Liden. However, the scoring to make it a shutout all happened in the third period. Gianni DiVita got things started by wristing one top corner, right side to open the scoring for Team Central. Minutes later, Suzuki would receive a feed from Michael Malatino and dangle on Will Mizenko to bury a beauty and make it two-nothing for Central. Nine minutes passed, Team East pulled Mizenko for the extra attacker, and would shortly find out which team was the better team of the night. 37 seconds before the horn blew, Keanon Pearman would send down the biscuit and score the empty netter to seal the deal for Central. Liden stopped all 12 shots on his net to collect a shutout, while his Central club sent 23 on Mizenko.

USNTDP 2 @ Selects White 3 - Some of the top prospects in junior hockey in the United States have been competing this week. On Monday, the USNTDP club took on the NAHL Selects White club, but the Selects team came in clutch when it mattered. In the first period, USA opened the scoring when Cannon Thibodeau buried one short side to usher in the Free Bird goal song. Shortly after, they would grab another one, as Jamie Glance would tip in Carson Scott's initial left-wing missile. In the second, the Selects team took control of the game. At the ten-minute mark, Grant Dillard would capitalize on the power play to break the ice for the NA. Later on, the line of Mack Diggins, Kamden Kaiser, and Oliver Barna absolutely hammered down on the netminder for USA, as Diggins would bury the redirection to tie the score at two. With less than a minute to play in the middle frame, Josh Zitzman would substitute Andrei Gudin for him to rip one from the open slot and officially take the game. Diggins was also a significant contributor to the cycle, as he forced an o-zone turnover on Team USA and made the forechecking magic happen for his line. Because of a well-rounded game during the third, the Selects team was able to maintain their one-goal lead over Team USA and secure the dub over them of the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament.