Game one U8 Nailers vs. U10 Jr. Birds
In the first action of the day, we saw the U8 Nailers take on the U10 Jr Birds in an exhibition game. No need to mention the score in this one as it was for fun. This was the very first game for the Jr. Birds and the first time the U8 Nailers played full ice 5v5. They normally play a 1/3 of the rink 3v3 similar to what you would see in Kiddie Kick soccer. It was just a blast to see these young people out on the ice having as much fun as they did.
Game two Martinsburg vs. Wheeling Park High School
In the first High School game of the day, we saw the 5th seeded Wheeling Park Patriots take on the 4th seeded Martinsburg Vipers. The action got off to a nice start with both teams showing good speed up and down the ice and both goalies making their presence known early on with a couple good saves.
Even with some great chances by both teams the scored remained tied at 0 at the end of the first period. Both goalies standing tall, Wheeling Parks’ Noah Britton and Martinsburg’s Josh Kuntz. It felt like watching a tennis match how fats both teams were up and down the ice. Two words come to mind watching the first period fast and physical. Each team getting in a nice hit or two in during the period.
Martinsburg starting to get some real pressure early in the second, but Britton is keeping them at bay with a couple nice saves and a little help from the post on one shot.
Wheeling Park strikes first with a goal by 14 Sam Kiger assisted by 9 Ian Richards at the 8:15 mark.
At 8:09 Martinsburg answers with a goal by 91 Kam Moore assisted 45 John Stoner. At 7:52 Martinsburg gets yet another goal unassisted by 56 Wyatt Arnoult giving the Vipers a 2-1 lead in the second in what turned out to be a flurry of goals after a scoreless first period.
Park gets another goal late off a power play at the :58 second mark by 18 Gian DeGenova assisted by 26 Luke Dunaway and 27 Logan Roxby. This brings the score at the end of two tied 2-2. Shots in the second period were Park with 16 and Martinsburg with 8.
The third period proves to be a great defensive battle with neither team being able to find the back of the net. Both teams doing a nice job of killing off penalties with some very physical play happening.
We enter a 5:00 minute sudden death overtime with both teams looking to advance to the semis.
Parks advances with 37 seconds left in overtime. Goal by 12 Landon Szazynski assisted by 26 Luke Dunaway.
The team MVPs are both goalies, deservingly so, Wheeling Park’s 29 Noah Britton and Martinsburg’s 40 Josh Kuntz
This set the stage for the semis as:
Park will play Linsly at 5:15 pm today.
Central will play Morgantown tonight at 7:45 pm.
Game three Wheeling Central vs. Martinsburg in the middle school division.
Minutes into the first period Martinsburg’s 69 Trevor Kochel draws first blood with an early goal, 1-0 Vipers. With 1:51 left in the first the Vipers and Trevor Kochel add another goal making it 2-0 towards the end of the first. The score remained 2-0 at the end of one period.
Wheeling Central’s 19 Brody Groome gets the team on the board at the 8:40 mark of the second period, 2-1 Vipers.
Martinsburg is getting some good chances in the second, but goalie 29 Seth Mandel is holding up very well. The second ends still 2-1 with the Vipers in the lead.
Martinsburg adds a late empty net goal with 23 seconds to go to ice this one. Give credit to Central’s goalie who faced 33 shots on the day and stood strong. Well done 29 Seth Mandel.
Team MVPs are Central’s 29 Seth Mandel and Martinsburg’s 8 Ethan Hayden.
Game four Women’s amateur Hockey Wheeling Lightningbirds vs. Columbus Capitals
This is one of three exhibition games on the weekend. The first of two from the Lightningbirds. They play again tomorrow at 11:15 am.
The Lightningbirds get off to a quick start putting early pressure on the Capitals with 3 shots in the first couple minutes of play. When you first notice the Lightningbirds they really look the part and seem to be a very organized, structured, and disciplined team.
However, it’s the Capitals that get the opening goal at the 11:37 mark in the first. Goal by number 27
With 12 seconds left in the first the Capitals add another goal. Fitting enough, from number 12, making the score 2-0 and this is how the first period ended.
A scoreless second has the score still 2-0 in favor of Columbus.
12:37 into the third period and number 12 for Columbus does it again making the score now 3-0 in favor of the Capitals. 47 seconds later, number 26 for the Capitals adds one more extending their lead to 4-0 over the hosting Lightningbirds.
Number 1 for Columbus adds another goal with 3:49 to go in the game giving the Capitals a commanding 5-0 lead.
It turned out to be a day where the Lightningbirds just ran into a strong goalie. The goalie really did keep Lightningbirds grounded. 4 Stephanie Crow, 11 Rachel Adams, 25 Beth Baumrucker, and 67 Emily Shortall all had decent shots on goal and looked very fluid on the ice for the Lightningbirds. Add some physical defensive play by 69 Jaclyn Fullerton and this was still a very enjoyable game to watch.
Game five Wheeling Park vs. Linsly
Linsly strikes first with a goal from 8 Brendan Moore assisted from 26 Mason Williams, 1-0 Linsly early.
Park answers the call 12 Landon Szazynski assist from 25 Luke Simonetti 1-1. This score held up throughout the first period.
The second period brought a ton of physical play until FRESHMAN 25 Luke Simonetti and Park’s leader scorer on the year, puts the Patriots in the lead on a breakaway goal 2-1.
At the end of three Park still up 2-1.
With 4:00 minutes left to go in the game Park gets a check from behind call, a 2 +10 and survives for the moment with 2:00 minutes remaining.
Linsly scores with 17 seconds left in the 3rd to tie it at 2-2 in a highly emotional game. Both teams are scrapping for absolutely everything they get with Linsly having momentum clearly in their favor putting a ton of pressure on the Patriots. Linsly out shot the Patriots 16-8 in the final period with Goalie Noah Britton keeping the Patriots in the game.
It’s more overtime hockey this weekend.
At the 14:34 minute in OT Park’s number 12 Landon Szazynsk puts the puck in the back of the net to advance the Patriots into the final tomorrow night. Their opponent will be determined here shortly.
MVP’s for each team are: Linsly’s 30 Kaden Hiryok and Park’s 12 Landon Szazynsk.
Game six and the last one today! Wheeling Central vs. Morgantown.
Initial thoughts on this game are both goalies are playing well. 29 for Morgantown Hayden Derk seems very quick. So far, in the first, he faced 6 shots and Central’s goalie 32 Ashton Glover has faced 5 and both are hanging tough.
Morgantown strikes first with 7:36 left in the first on a goal by 10 Geno Valenti unassisted, 1-0 Mohawks.
Again, 10 Geno Valenti gets a goal, assisted this time by 77 Nate Rodgers. 3:18 left in the first and the Mohawks are up 2-0. That takes us to the end of the first with the Mohawks up 2-0.
16:19 in the second 88 Brayden Hellen assisted from 19 Ty Edgerton puts the Mohawks up 3-0.
12:57 in the second Goal 17 James Robbins assisted by 55 Ben Li and 13 Jacob Hollander. Wheeling Central takes a time out to get a handle on things as Morgantown goes up 4-0 in the second.
Morgantown looking like they’re getting ready to run away with this one. Up 5-0 with 12:30 left in the second on a goal by 88 Hellen, his second on the night, with an assist from 19 Edgerton.
Morgantown just appears to be long, lean, and in good hockey shape. Add in some very good hockey IQ and they are looking like something special. They are moving well and the puck is just finding its way to their players.
At the end of 2 periods. Morgantown leads the Maron Knights 5-0.
36 seconds into the third Central’s 5 Ethan Taylor gets Central on the board 5-1.
77 Nate Rodgers assisted from 10 Geno Valenti gets one right back for the Mohawks 5 seconds later, 6-1 Morgantown, 13:00 minutes remain.
96 Anthony DiBartolomeo with a between the legs shot gets a highlight style goal assisted from 19 Edgerton and 88 Hellen. 7-1 Morgantown 4:00 minutes left.
10 Valenti gets his hat trick on the night putting the Mohawks up 8-1 unassisted and man down with 3 minutes to go.
Hildebrand gets a late score to make the score 8-2
And that’s a wrap on the day with Morgantown defeating Wheeling Central 8-2 and advancing to take on Wheeling Park tomorrow in the Championship game at 3:00 pm.
Team MVPs are: Morgantown’s 10 Geno Valenti Central’s 5 Ethan Taylor.
A summary of events from Day 2
Day 2 turned in a marathon day for this reporter starting at 8:30 in the morning and finishing about 9:30 or so that evening. 13 hours of hockey heaven. The day started out with the U8 Nailers vs. the U10 Jr. Birds. This was a perfect start to this day because you watched kids play for the reason, we should all play, to have fun! We lose this as we get older. In middle school it is still about development and bettering your skills. Like the article said this was the very first time for the Jr. Birds as the privous group aged out and they need to rebuild the program. This was this first time for the U8 Nailers to go full ice. My summary from this is it was just fun! They way it should be.
The middle school game from yesterday is when is get to the point where winning might matter just a bit more, but hats off to both coaches as it seemed everyone had a great chance to play and get good time. You could tell the difference in size and experience levels between some of the players. That was the only middle school game of the day. Two players that did stand out to me were 69 Trevor Kochel from Morgantown and 19 from Central Brodt Groome.
The Lightningbirds played an exhibition game vs the Columbus Capitals. The Lightningbirds did load the Capitals a goalie for the game, and she stood tall in the net. There are very good players on both teams in this one and I look forward to catching some more of their games. While I am sure there are having fun doing this, you can tell there is a want to win and play very well. They do appear to be very structured and disciplined.
Now we get to the three high school games of the day. Wheeling Park played 2 and both went into overtime on the day. Noah Britton for the Patriots had a stellar day. Getting MVP in the first game and played lights out in the second one as well.
However, Park’s Landon Szazynski had a theme for the day. Score in overtime and advance your team. He did so in both of Park’s overtimes today, earning himself MVP of the second game. The first one came with just 37 seconds left in the game to send the Patriots pasted Martinsburg. The second came just at the beginning of overtime to send Linsly packing.
Park had some great play from some of the other players DeGenova looked strong most of the day and Luke Simonetti plays fast and has great stick skills for the Patriots. All these players will need to stand tall as they advanced to the Championship game on Sunday at 3pm vs Morgantown who absolutely looked amazing vs. Wheeling Central.
My question is, how much will Park have left after playing two overtime games, where as the 2nd seeded team from Morgantown only played one game that was decided early on and had the ability to rest players if needed.
As I just alluded to Morgantown handled Wheeling Central yesterday to the tune of 8-2. Throughout this game Morgantown’s size, speed, and hockey IQ was evident. When I say size, while they are big, they all long and lean. This give someone them incredible reach and long strides making their speed something to be reckon with as well.
One of the players 55 Ben Li just seems to be everywhere and while I would call him Johnny Hustle, I learned from some of the Morgantown parents them call him the British bulldog. I guess from the famous wrestler, just because I don’t think the name Li sounded British. We did get a chuckle out of that.
I want to throw in a little something I sat with parents a lot on the day and from the very get go Morgantown has some amazing parents there. It was enjoyable to speak with them and learn a little about their players as I did not know much about them.
One player that really flashes on the ice, and Park will certainly need to account for is number 10, Geno Valenti. Great hockey skills and IQ will make him very dangerous for the Patriots to deal with. He was the team MVP with I believe 4 goals and 1 assist in the game vs Central.
One other player that will have a huge impact on the championship game is Morgantown’s goalie, Hayden Derk. This kid is fast and plays great angles.
I was there and watched 13 hours of hockey yesterday and love every second of it. I would definitely try
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