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.