Weekend Preview Dec. 19-12: The Storm Before the Calm Includes the Mid-Winter Classic and a PHC Showdown
The weekend of Dec. 19-21 might be labeled as the storm before the calm as youth hockey teams all over North America scramble to get a few more tournament games in before many of them take a brief holiday break. While there are few scattered tournaments during the days immediately following the Christmas holiday, the majority of teams shut it down for a week or 10 days to give their players and families an opportunity to take a break and recharge the batteries for the season’s stretch run.
Whether you are spending time at home or traveling to a far-off or nearby ice rink during the next two weekends, we wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday season.
Our featured tournament for the Dec. 19-21 weekend is being hosted by Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, one of the top American youth hockey programs, for many highly ranked 11U, 12U and 13O teams. The annual Pens Elite Mid-Winter Classic also offers competition for younger age groups, but our focus is on those ages, with 36 total teams competing at the 11U, 12U and 13O levels. Each of those divisions features multiple teams ranked among the nation’s top 25, according to the Week 13 MHR Rankings, and there are four top 10 teams competing at the 12U level.
Perhaps the highlight of the weekend is a two-game series between the top two USA Boys Tier 1 18U teams, according to our latest rankings, in Indiana Dec. 19 and 20. Second-ranked Culver Academies 18U looks to redeem itself after a pair of Prep Hockey Conference overtime losses in Ontario at St. Andrews College Dec. 13-14. St. Andrews, the top-ranked Canadian Prep team, split a pair of games at Culver the previous weekend, and now the Eagles look right the ship and be less-than-welcoming hosts as USA No.1-ranked Shattuck-St. Mary’s 18U Prep invades Henderson Arena for a pair of important PHC tilts.
The weekend of Dec. 18-21 also is a huge one for New England Prep hockey as many prep-school programs host their annual holiday tournaments.
CLICK HERE for a complete rundown of the weekend’s events from the New England Hockey Journal.
We will highlight some of the top New England Prep matchups and moments from the weekend in our Weekend Wrap, which will be posted Tuesday, Dec. 23.
This year’s Mid-Winter Classic features a total of 66 teams at the 9U-13O age levels competing at various Pittsburgh-area rinks Dec. 19-21. Our focus is on the 36 teams that are playing in the 11U, 12U and 13U divisions.
Tournament games are being played at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, RMU Island Sports Center, Alpha Ice Complex and Baierl Ice Complex and should be available for live and on-demand viewing via LiveBarn
Mid-Winter Classic 13O Division
The 13O Division includes seven teams ranked among the USA Boys 11U All Teams top 37 and four that are in the top 25. There are 11 teams in the division. Games began Friday, Dec. 19, and run through Dec. 21, with playoff contests beginning Saturday, Dec. 20.
Mid-Winter Classic Participating 13O Teams
#12 Nashville Jr. Predators
#14 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite
#23 New Jersey Colonials
#25 Clevleand Barons
#30 (All Teams) Connecticut Jr. Rangers
#35 Philadelphia Little Flyers
#37 Philadelphia Hockey Club
#43 Rochester Saints
#67 Pittsburgh Predators
#78 Pittsburgh Vengeance
#92 Valley Forge Minutemen
Mid-Winter Classic 12U Division
Of the 14 teams participating in the 12U Division at the Mid-Winter Classic, four are ranked among the MHR Week 13 top 10, Only two participating teams are not ranked among the top 56, and there are eight top 25 teams in a stacked field. Play began Friday, with playoffs slated to begin Saturday, Dec. 20, and a champion to be crowned Sunday, Dec. 21.
Mid-Winter Classic Participating 12U Teams
#2 Chicago Reapers
#5 Mid-Fairfield Rangers
#8 Woodbridge Wolfpack
#9 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (Mueller)
#23 Buffalo Jr. Sabres
#24 Ohio AAA Blue Jackets
#25 Rochester Saints
#33 Philadelphia Jr. Flyers
#37 Valley Forge Minutemen
#46 Florida Surf
#55 Wilkes Barre-Scranton Jr. Knights
#56 Carolina Jr. Canes
#87 New Jersey Jr. Titans
#112 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (Laschon)
Mid-Winter Classic 11U Division
There are 11 teams competing in the 11U Division at the Mid-Winter Classic, and four of them ranked among the MHR Week 13 top 25. Seven of the teams are in the top 40. Play began Friday morning and runs through Sunday, Dec. 21, with the playoffs slated to begin Saturday.
Mid-Winter Classic Participating 11U Teams
#8 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (Mueller)
#19 Woodbridge Wolfpack
#22 Florida Surf
#23 Philadelphia Hockey Club
#41 Team Illinois
#42 Oakland Jr. Grizzlies
#46 Philadelphia Little Flyers
#55 Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (Snyder)
#61 New Jersey Colonials
#64 Rochester Saints
#83 Pittsburgh Vengeance
CLICK HERE to access the tournament schedule, scores, standings & statistics
Prep Hockey Conference Showdown
#1 Shattuck-St. Mary’s 18U Boys Prep vs. #2 Culver Academies 18U Prep
Friday, Dec. 19 - 6:45 p.m. EST at Henderson Family Arena in Culver, Ind.
Saturday, Dec. 20 - 11:00 a.m. EST at Henderson Family Arena in Culver, Ind.
CLICK HERE to watch the Dec. 19 game
CLICK HERE to watch the Dec. 20 game
The USA’s top two Tier 1 18U Boys teams face off in a two-game Prep Hockey Conference series at Culver’s Henderson Family Arena Friday and Saturday, Dec. 19 and 20.
Culver currently sits atop the PHC West standings at 5-4-0, including a pair of overtime losses Dec. 13 and 14 at St. Andrew’s College. Those teams split two games the previous weekend in Indiana, but Culver still leads the Saints by three standings points. St. Andrews is the top-ranked Canada Independent Prep Boys team. Meanwhile, Shattuck is in third place in the PHC West, one point behind St. Andrew’s at 4-2-1 with all of its games having been decided in regulation. The Sabres have two games in hand on the other two teams.
South Kent School leads the PHC East with 10 points, followed by Northwood school with eight and Mount St. Charles with six.
The Prep Hockey Conference was established in 2021 by traditionally strong prep hockey-playing institutions: Culver Academies (Indiana); Mount St. Charles Academy (Rhode Island); Northwood School (New York); Shattuck-St. Mary’s School (Minnesota); South Kent School (Connecticut); and St. Andrew’s College (Ontario) are the founding members and continue the six member teams for the 2025-26 season.
The league is comprised of institutions rich in history and tradition with a strong commitment to academic and athletic excellence. They are like-minded in their goals and aspirations with a focus on improving the overall student-athlete experience while building rivalries through healthy competition and providing their players with exposure to the highest level of competition as well as to coaches and scouts from the highest levels of North American hockey.
Culver enters the weekend with an overall record of 14-6-0 and having outscored its opponents, 96-50. The Eagles were 13-3-0 before dropping three of their last four games to St. Andrew’s. Culver boasts three of the top four PHC scorers in Austin Brekelmans, Blake Manning and Patrick McSharry.
Shattuck is 20-3-1 overall and enters the weekend in the midst of a three-game winning streak. The Sabres have gone 20-2-1 since dropping their season-opening game against Minnesota Elite (Base), 5-3. Roberts Naudins is the team’s top scorer in PHC play with five goals and four assists in seven contests, which ranks ninth in the league. Luke Puchner, Ethan Sung and Colin Grubb rank among the top 12 in scoring, while goalies Michael Iliff and Garrett Glaser are first and second in goals-against average.
CLICK HERE for PHC game results
CLICK HERE for PHC complete standings
