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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