The PowerHockey Cup 2014 had an exhilarating semifinal round on Wednesday evening at The Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium as top teams faced-off to see who advances to the PowerHockey Cup 2014 finals!

The back-to-back defending champion Minnesota Saints (#1 Pool A) battle the speedy and powerful Ottawa Capitals (#2 Pool B). Saints forward #87 Chad Wilson scored first (assisted by #20 Matt  Wimmergren) and Ottawa answered with a goal by #7 Moses Yorke (assisted by #11 Roddey Harb) to finish the 1st tied at 1-1. In the 2nd period, Saints forward #87 Chad Wilson scored a powerplay goal (assisted by #81 Josh Twite) and then #81 Josh Twite followed with an unassisted goal. The Saints continued their scoring spree with another 2 goals by star player #87 Chad Wilson (1 unassisted and 1 assisted by #81 Josh Twite) to end the 2nd period 5-1. Chad Wilson added another goal in the 3rd for Minnesota as the Saints cruised to a 6-1 win to advance to the Championship game on Thursday at 7:00 pm (Central).

The 2013 U.S. PowerHockey Champion Philadelphia PowerPlay (#1 Pool B) faced off against the 2013 CEWHA National Champion Calgary Selects (#2 Pool A) . Early in the game Calgary showed their defensive experience by stifling the fast young PowerPlay forwards. Veteran forward #13 Mike Falconer put Calgary on the scoreboard with under 8 minutes left in the 1st period (assisted by #63 Nathan Grossklaus).  The game continued to be a defensive showdown led by Calgary for much of the 2nd period until #13 Mike Falconer found the back of the net once again with less than 1 minute left in the period. With 6 minutes left in the 3rd period, Falconer drew a penalty for checking which led to a power play goal by Philadelphia’s young star #18 Jake Saxton. With 1:24 left in regulation, Philadelphia’s trio of young forwards connected with a goal by #88 Liam Miller (assisted by #18 Jake Saxton and #8 Alex Pitts) to tie it at 2-2. The game ended up going to overtime where 11-year old #18 Jake Saxton scored the game winner to send Philadelphia to their first ever PowerHockey Cup championship game against the defending back-to-back champion Minnesota Saints on Thursday at 7:00 pm (central)!

The losers of these intense semifinal games, Ottawa and Calgary, will play for 3rd place on Thursday at 5:00 pm.

The 3rd Place & Championship game will be broadcast live on CTV 15 North Suburbs, a community cable channel covering the cities of Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Little Canada, Mounds View, New Brighton, North Oaks, Roseville, St. Anthony and Shoreview. For viewers in other areas across the metro and online, CTV will be streaming their broadcast live online for free.

PowerHockey Cup 2014 webcast crew led by producer Mike York, will continue their live stream covering all of Thursday’s games on uStream.tv!

Fans also can follow the game live on Twitter @PowerHockeyCup and on Facebook.

Tournament organizers are hoping for a large crowd at The Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium to watch the hometown back-to-back defending champion Minnesota Saints face-off against the Philadelphia PowerPlay in a battle of the undefeated teams! Admission is free! 

The PowerHockey Cup is a biennial event of the North American PowerHockey Association (NAPHA) that allows the athletes to compete against the best power wheelchair hockey teams in North America. This year’s tournament features eight teams from across the U.S. and Canada (Calgary Selects, Carolina Fury, Michigan Mustangs, Minnesota Saints, Minnesota Selects, Ottawa Capitals, Philadelphia PowerPlay and the Toronto Lake Raiders).

PowerHockey’s mission is to provide a quality hockey program for persons requiring the use of an electric (power) wheelchair in daily life. PowerHockey is based on basic hockey rules with a few adaptations to allow everyone in a power wheelchair the ability to participate.

The Minnesota PowerHockey League (MPHL) is the local league that the tournament teams (Minnesota Saints & Minnesota Selects) choose players from to compete at this elite level, which players proudly compare to the Stanley Cup of their sport. 

For more information, visit PowerHockeyCup.com and PowerHockey.com.

The quarterfinals of PowerHockey Cup 2014 wrapped up Wednesday afternoon at The Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, MN. There were some great games as the level of competition stepped up in the elimination round!

The back-to-back defending champion Minnesota Saints faced #4 Seed (Pool B) Michigan Mustangs in the quarterfinals at 11:00 am. The Michigan Mustangs put up their best game yet, giving the defending Champs their toughest game yet. Saints forward #87 Chad Wilson got the games first goal on a powerplay (assisted  by #81 Josh Twite and #5 Matt Wimmergren). Michigan answered with a goal by #23 Kevin Konfara. With 6 minutes left, the Saints took the lead with an unassisted goal by #87 Chad Wilson. One minute later Wilson added another goal (assisted by #81 Josh Twite) to take a 3-1 lead in the 2nd. Michigan answered again with an unassisted goal by #23 Kevin Konfara to make it a 3-2 game at the end of the 2nd period. Early in the 3rd peiod, Minnesota forward #81 Josh Twite added an unassisted goal to take a 4-2 lead. With 2:59 left in the game, Michigan’s #23 Kevin Konfara notched his 3rd goal of the game (unassisted). Michigan pulled their goalie with 7.8 seconds left to try to tie it up by they fell short and the Minnesota Saints advanced with a 4-3 victory.

The #1 Seed (Pool B) PowerPlay faced #4 Seed (Pool A) Carolina Fury in the quarterfinals at 12:45 pm on Wednesday. The PowerPlay once again jumped on their opponent by scoring 6 goals in the first period, they cruised to a 9-3 win to advance to the semifinals. Philadelphia’s young trio of forwards all did their share of scoring, #18 Jake Saxton (3 goals, 1 assist), #88 Liam Miller (3 goals, 1 assist) and #8 Alex Pitts (2 goals, 1 assist). Forward Bryce Smith also had 1 goal. Carolina had 2 goals by #7 Jim Thompson and 1 goal plus 1 assist by #71 George Silvey.

The Ottawa Capitals (#2 Pool B) played Ontario rival Toronto Lake Raiders (#3 Seed Pool A) in the quarterfinal round at 2:30 pm. The Ottawa Capitals started out with the games first goal by #7 Moses Yorke in the first period.  In the second, Ottawa scored 2 quick goals, the first by #88 Johnson Wilson (2 goals) and the second by #7 Moses York (2 goals, 1 assist). In the 3rd period, Toronto answered with a goal by #16 Saverio Romano.  Ottawa a forward #88 Johnson Wilson followed with his second goal of the game.  Toronto fought back though with a goal by #4 Jeremy Schofield. Ottawa won the game with a final score of 4-2. Forward #11 Roddey Harb had 2 assists in the win. Ottawa advances to face #1 Seed (Pool A) Minnesota Saints in the semifinals at 6:00 pm.

The Calgary Selects (#2 Seed Pool A) faced Minnesota Selects (#3 Seed Pool B) in the quarterfinal round at 4:15 pm. This was the battle of the Selects, both teams played outstanding defense and were locked up at 0-0 after 2 periods. Calgary got on the scoreboard first in the 3rd with a goal by #63 Nathan Grossklaus.  Minnesota tied it up with a goal by #13 Chris Kram (Assisted by #24 Lucas Braun). The game ended regulation tied 1-1, so the teams went to overtime to decide the game. Calgary forward #44 Ben Thorne scored an amazing game winning goal to advance Calgary to the semifinals against the #1 Seed (Pool B) Philadelphia PowerPlay at 7:45 pm.

The pool play portion of PowerHockey Cup 2014 wrapped up late Tuesday night at The Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, MN. The tournament has been action packed with speed, skill and lots of scoring!

The back-to-back defending champion Minnesota Saints finished Pool A unbeaten with a 3-0-0 record. The Saints are led by high scoring forward Chad Wilson (#87), who has 10 goals and 3 assists in the tournament. Forward Matt Wimmergren (#20) has also been impressive with 3 goals and 4 assists. The team has gotten solid play in goal from veteran goalie Sarah Heinsch (#9) who has a 2.33 GAA and a 3-0-0 record. The #1 Seed (Pool A) Minnesota Saints will will face-off against #4 Seed (Pool B) Michigan Mustangs in the quarterfinals at 11:00 am on Wednesday. The Michigan Mustangs are led by high scoring forward Kevin Konfara (#23) who has 8 goals and forward Tristan Parent (#40) who has 2 goals and 2 assists.

The 2013 U.S. PowerHockey Champion Philadelphia PowerPlay have been putting on a show with their impressive play led by 11-year old rising star Jake Saxton (#18) who leads the tournament with 13 goals and 7 assists (20 points)! The PowerPlay are young and loaded with talent, forward Liam Miller (#1) has 4 goals and 2 assists and forward Alex Pitts (#8)  has 3 goals and 4 assists. Goalie Erin Gordon has been rock solid for Philadelphia with a 0.83 GAA. The #1 Seed (Pool B) PowerPlay will face-off against #4 Seed (Pool A) Carolina Fury in the quarterfinals at 12:45 pm on Wednesday. The Carolina Fury are led by forward Jim Thompson (#7) with 3 goals and 2 assists, and the powerful young George Silvey (#71) who has 3 goals.

The #2 Seed (Pool B) Ottawa Capitals are a fast, aggressive and strong team with great depth at the forward positions. Forwards Mohammed Awad (#9) and Moses Yorke (#7) have 4 goals each. Ottawa will play Ontario rival #3 Seed (Pool A) Toronto Lake Raiders in the quarterfinal round at 2:30 pm. The Lake Raiders are a team with a great mix of veterans with a few young rising stars, forward Saverio Romano (#16) has 6 goals in the tournament so far and young goalie Leo Xu (#99) has played well.

The Calgary Selects (2006 & 2008 PowerHockey Cup Champions) are in the mix for a run for a 3rd Cup title. They are a savvy veteran team led by powerful forward Mike Falconer (#13) with 7 goals and 1 assist, as well as Shawn Pahl (#25) with 5 goals and 2 assists. Veteran forward and team captain Nathan Grossklaus (#63) has 3 goals and 6 assists. The Calgary defense-men have been a thorn in the side of opponents with their smart positioning and ability to direct play along the boards. The Calgary Selects (#2 Seed Pool A) will face-off against the upstart #3 Seed (Pool B) Minnesota Selects in the quarterfinal round at 4:15 pm. The Minnesota Selects are led by former Minnesota Stars MVP forward Chris Kram (#13) who has 9 goals and 2 assists. The Minnesota Selects also feature young forward Jacob Ritter (#22) who has 3 goals and 3 assists.

The semifinal round games will be at 6:00 pm and 7:45 pm. All games will be broadcast live on uStream.tv.

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