MHR Game of the Year #4: LA Lions vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 12U Girls Tier 1
MHR 2023-24 Games of the Year
Game #4 – February 4, 2024
USA Girls 12U Tier 1
Motor City Girls Fest Championship – Troy, Mich.
#9 LA Lions (3) vs. #7 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (2)
In a tournament that featured four of the nation’s top-10 12U girls Tier 1 teams, an undermanned ninth-ranked LA Lions team capped off a remarkable tournament run with a thrilling 3-2 shootout win Feb. 4 against seventh-ranked Pens Elite to capture the Motor City Girls Fest championship at Buffalo Wild Wings Arena in Troy, Mich.
A look at the scoresheet alone provides an indication of what type of game this title clash was, and a glance at the Lions’ tournament results shows that their road to the championship was daunting and impressive. They concluded the tournament with a perfect 6-0-0 record and recorded wins against the third-ranked Chicago Mission and 19th-ranked Windy City Storm while also knocking off No.7 Pens Elite twice.
Both victories against Pittsburgh required shootouts, and the games vs. the Mission and Storm were one-goal decisions.
But that only scratches the surface of their story.
The Lions began the tournament with a very short bench of just nine skaters, and their starting goalie was away at an overnight camp in Northern California. She was picked up early in the day by her father, and the duo had to take two flights just to get to Michigan in time for the first game.
As you’ll see below, it’s a good thing they made it.
Expectations entering the tournament were low given the circumstances and the difficult schedule the team would face. The Lions considered themselves underdogs entering the event and used that as motivation to push through to the championship. They already had lost to Pens Elite, 5-3, Jan. 14 in an earlier tournament and to the Mission, 5-2, Sept. 16, so even earning one victory against either of those two top programs would have been quite an accomplishment.
Instead, all they did was go out and win the whole darn thing, leaving head coach Andrew Stone emotional and fighting back tears after the deciding contest while the parents and Lions’ 14U team celebrated in the stands.
In the Lions' first win against Pittsburgh Feb. 3, Mia Banaszak of Pen’s Elite tied the game at 2 with 7:51 left in the second period, and the two teams played a scoreless third period and overtime to set up the shootout. Cameron Cadena and Tennessee Jones scored for LA in the shootout, while goalie Mya Deguzis turned aside two of the three attempts she faced to secure the upset win.
DeGuzis also picked up the victory against the Chicago Mission later that day, with Cadena scoring in the first period and Hannah Goudey potting the game-winner with 11:48 remaining in the final frame.
Cadena tallied again in the semifinals vs. Windy City the following day to tie the game at 2 with just 33 seconds remaining in the second period, setting the stage for a third-period game-winning tally by Ella Ianiero with just 4:47 showing on the clock. Deguzis again was the winning neminder.
And that brings us to the championship rematch vs. Pens Elite.
MHR Game of the Year #4 – #9 LA Lions 3, #7 Pens Elite 2
The theme that had been developing throughout the tournament, with Cameron Cadena and Mya Deguzis playing the roles of LA Lion heroes, continued all the way through the championship game.
Cadena scored another goal to tie the game at 1 in the second period and buried the only goal of the shootout, while Deguzis thwarted all three Pens Elite shootout attempts as the Lions skated away with an improbable Motor City Girls Fest championship.
Cadena’s goal came with 8:13 left in the middle stanza after Pittsburgh’s Ava Franus had staked her team to an early 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes after Cadena scored, Avery Defreitas pulled LA in front with a tally of her own before Claire Dickson tied the game for Pittsburgh once again just 1:42 later.
Similar to the previous meeting between the two teams, the third period and overtime were scoreless, sending the game to yet another deciding shootout.
Cadena went first in the shootout and scored to put the pressure on Pens Elite, and when Deguzis stopped Sydney Vilscek on Pittsburgh’s third attempt, the Lions swarmed off their bench to congratulate the goalie who almost couldn’t make it to the tournament’s first game.
Congratulations to the LA Lions and Pittsburgh Penguins Elite on playing in the MHR No. 4 Game of the Year!
