MHR Game of the Year #2: USA Hockey 14U Youth Tier 1 National Championship
MHR 2023-24 Games of the Year
Game #2 – April 7, 2024
USA Boys 14U Tier 1
14U USA Hockey Youth National Championship Game
#2 Mount St. Charles 2, #1 Shattuck-St. Mary’s 1 (OT)
CLICK HERE for game highlights
Whenever the nation’s two highest-ranked teams in a sport play each other it’s a big deal, no matter the ages of the players involved or whether the game is played at the beginning, middle or end of a season.
If that same matchup occurs later in the season, of course, if usually takes on more meaning, and if it’s played with something on the line it becomes even bigger.
And when the game decides something as meaningful as a national championship – and requires overtime for a winner to be determined – it becomes and instant classic.
In this case, the matchup between second-ranked Mount St. Charles and top-ranked Shattuck St. Mary’s for the 14U USA Hockey Tier 1 Youth National Championship at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth Michigan April 7 took place on the largest possible stage.
It featured a Mount St. Charles team that entered the finals having won 25-straight games and 39 of its previous 40 contests taking on a Shattuck St. Mary’s club that had gone 24-2-2 in its previous 28 outings. MSC had rolled to the title clash by posting a perfect 5-0-0 record in Plymouth and outscoring its opponents, 35-7. Meanwhile, the Sabres also had compiled a perfect 5-0-0 mark while outgunning their foes by a 26-11 margin.
The Saints knocked off the No. 71 Sioux Falls Power, No. 11 Dallas Stars Elite, No. 8 Windy City Storm, No. 18 New Jersey Rockets and No. 5 Mid-Fairfield Jr. Rangers on their road to the finals. In the quarterfinals, Mount St. Charles avenged an earlier-season loss to New Jersey by handing the Rockets a 10-2 setback before dismantling Mid-Fairfield, 6-1, in the semis.
Shattuck beat the No. 18 Rockets, 5-3, No. 10 Little Caesars, 6-1 and the No. 7 Chicago Reapers, 5-1, to advance to the quarterfinals before knocking off No. 8 Windy City and No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite by identical 5-3 margins in the quarters and semis.
By that point, it had become clear that the championship game would indeed feature the unquestioned best two 14U boys teams in the United States. Although Mount St. Charles entered the finals ranked one notch below the powerful Sabres, it was hard to consider the Saints an underdog given their 25-game winning streak and a previous 6-2 win over Shattuck in Pittsburgh Nov. 18.
That victory seemed like it had taken place years ago, however, and there is no chance that anyone expected either team to run away with this game with so much at stake and such talented and deep lineups on both benches. And in what amounted to a microcosm of the MSC season, the gold-medal game proved to be the thriller we all anticipated to earn the second spot on our MYHockey Rankings Games of the Year list for 2023-24.
Much like its season, which got off to a rocky start with a pair of losses against No. 25 Providence Hockey Club and the third-ranked Boston Jr. Eagles – MSC started 4-3-0 before concluding the campaign on an amazing 53-3-1 run – the national-championship game wasn’t a smooth ride for the Saints.
MSC netminder Nate Chizik turned aside all nine shots he faced in the first period to keep his team in the game as the Sabres compiled a 9-3 shots-on-goal advantage. It took a couple of key first-period saves by Chizik drive to the net by Ethan Sung and Nolan Fitzhenry’s follow-up rebound shot to keep the game deadlocked.
From there his teammates settled in and took control.
The Saints rebounded from the sluggish opening frame to outshoot the Sabres, 14-8, and they took a 1-0 lead into the final stanza thanks to Stephen Cover, who sniped home a power-play maker off a feed from Rocco Pelosi with 13:48 left in the middle frame. That was the 90th point of the season for Cover, who led the tournament in scoring with 16 points in six contests.
Shattuck could not find the equalizer until pulling netminder Hagan Bach in the game’s final minute. With Bach looking on hopefully from the bench, Braden Horton one-timed the rebound of a blocked Fitzhenry shot past Chizik to even the score with 50 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.
Despite seemingly handing over the game’s momentum to Shattuck heading into the extra period, Mount St. Charles found a way to rally shortly after the puck dropped to start overtime. Braden Scuderi scored the golden goal 3:01 into extra time to cap the Saints’ incredible season and secure the national championship. Scuderi criscrossed with teammate Colton Sommer just above the faceoff circles, took a drop pass a fired a high laser past Bach for the game-winner.
The national title was the first for Mount St. Charles at the 14U level. Both netminders made 26 saves in what proved to be a battle for the ages.
Congratulations to the Mount St. Charles and Shattuck-St. Mary’s 14U teams for playing in our second-ranked MHR Game of the Year!
