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.