Mass. academies earn hard-fought PPHL titles

18U Boston Hockey Academy, 16U American Hockey Academy capture first crowns

By Kevin Conway
TEWKSBURY, Mass. – Although there was an opportunity for dual repeat
postseason champions, a pair of new titlists were ultimately crowned during the second Power Prep Hockey League Boys Conference playoffs at Breakaway Ice Center, home of league member Boston Hockey Academy.
The 18U hosts, who were seeded fourth coming out of the preliminary round, relied on a fast start to their final showdown against Elite Hockey Academy, netting four unanswered goals in the first period, to cruise to a 6-2 victory.
Meanwhile, red-hot PPHL newcomer American Hockey Academy of Canton, Mass., earned the 16U top seed following the preliminary round, rolled to a semifinal win over Bishops College, but needed a three-goal third period to hold off regular-season champ Gilmour Academy, 6-4, in the title game.
18U BHA, BENNER GET HOT AT PERFECT TIME
Perhaps somewhat overlooked following a 6-2 preliminary-round loss to top-seeded Ontario Hockey Academy, Boston Hockey Academy completely flipped thescript in the semifinal against the Mavericks.
In the rematch, six BHA players were credited with goals, including forwards Hunter Belisle and Joe Curtatone on the power play, as the hosts sent favored OHA home early with a 6-2 victory of their own. Logann Vigneault netted the game-winner for BHA in the first period, while goaltender Dalton Seasholtz turned aside 35 shots to earn his second postseason victory.
Defending PPHL 18U champion Gilmour Academy advanced to the semifinals behind a pair of preliminary-round wins but fell to the late-season surging Elite Hockey Academy squad, 5-3, despite a fierce comeback effort after falling behind to five consecutive EHA goals to start the game.
In their lone regular-season matchup, BHA and Elite battled in a wild, back-and-forth contest with Elite holding on for a 7-6 win. However, in the championship game, EHA suffered from a slow start, and Boston took full advantage. Belisle scored twice in the first period, including with the man advantage with just over three minutes remaining, as BHA built a four-goal lead after less than 15 minutes of play. Taking advantage of the playoffs rule of a running clock for any
five-goal lead during play, the hosts shaved nearly 14 minutes off the clock in the second period after forward Trevor Ponath scored early in the middle stanza, giving BHA a commanding 5-0 lead.
Michael Azzarone’s power-play goal—the EHA forward’s league-best eighth of the playoffs— with less than a minute before the second intermission provide Elite a longshot chance to stage a late comeback and, more importantly, stopped the clock from continuing to run to begin the final period. Caleb North’s goal at the midway point of the third cut the EHA deficit to three, but BHA goaltender
Rylan Benner proved too tough to beat again. Benner made 25 saves to earn his third win of the playoffs, which included back- to-back preliminary-round shutouts against The Hill Academy and American Hockey Academy. His impressive 0.67 goals-against average and .980 save percentage for the playoffs earned Benner the 18U Power Prep Hockey League Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award.
16U AHA, MARSZALEK FINISH ON ROLL
American Hockey Academy finished as runner-up in the regular-season standings
thanks to a season-opening, 4-3 loss to first-place Gilmour in November. While
the Lancers extended their winning streak throughout the nine-game regular
season to remain in first, unfazed AHA proceeded to win its next 12 consecutive
games— the final one being the rematch with the Lancers in the playoffs
championship.
Gilmour was upset by Bishops College, 4-2, in its second preliminary-round
contest, dropping the Lancers behind AHA for the first time this season. Gilmour
recovered with a pair of hard-fought victories over defending 16U champ Boston
Hockey Academy to close out the preliminary round as well as in the semifinals as
the second seed, setting up the long-awaited rematch against AHA in the final.
In the 16U championship, a three-goal second period allowed American to take a
3-2 lead into the second intermission as forwards Andrew Rocha, Dylan
Marszalek and Gavin Rosher scored three straight goals before Gilmour forward
Thomas Putnam’s power-play tally with just 28 seconds left in the period pulled
the Lancers within one.
Gilmour netted the equalizer just 2:08 into the third on forward Mike
Kucherawy’s fifth of the playoffs, but the tie didn’t last long. Just 16 seconds later,
AHA rushed the ensuing faceoff into the Lancers’ zone before defenseman Griffin Manning gathered a lose puck blasted in an unassisted goal to give American back the lead for good at 4-3.
Forward James Burbank scored the eventual game-winner for AHA with 9:18
remaining to make the score 5-3, but Kucherawy kept the Lancers’ hopes alive
with this sixth postseason tally with 3:15 left. Gilmour pulled goalie Logan Linsz
(23 saves) twice over the final two minutes of play in an attempt to force
overtime, but Marszalek, who finished the season with a division-high 9-13—22 in
14 games, tapped in an open-net goal for his second of the game to clinch both
the Power Prep Hockey League championship for AHA as well as the 16U PPHL
Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award.