Jr. Kings win Tier I 15O national championship in overtime

BY SEAMUS KELLEY USA HOCKEY

The Los Angeles Jr. Kings rallied from a two-goal deficit to take home the Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 15O National Championship on April 3 at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, N.J., with a 3-2 overtime victory over Shattuck-St. Mary’s.

This marks the first-ever 15O national championship for the LA Jr. Kings, dating back to the debut of the 15O tournament in 2017.

The high-octane power play of Shattuck-St. Mary’s was on full display in the first period at the 9:00 minute mark, and Shattuck capitalized 45 seconds later when Gavin Kor found Wyatt Cameron open in the slot. Cameron rifled a one-timer for his third goal of the tournament.

At 10:30, Shattuck-St. Mary’s went on the man-advantage once more, and at 10:52, Kor made it a 2-0 game with helpers from Aaron Obobaifo and Cameron.

The middle frame was highlighted by strong goaltending at both ends,

In the closing minutes of the period, the Kings went on the power play with just 2:29 remaining. With

1:30 to go, Luke Norcross was able to punch the puck in from out front and get the Kings on the board with a power-play goal off a feed from Benjamin Kevan.

Just 1:52 into the third, the Jr. Kings’ Tyler Russell collected a pass from Garrett Russell at the point, and blasted a wrist shot that snuck through traffic past Glaser to knot the game up at two goals apiece. The remaining 15:08 of regulation remained scoreless, with both teams generating several strong chances but neither able to capitalize, and the game headed to sudden death overtime tied at 2-2.

In overtime, Garrett Russell collected a long stretch pass from Tyler Russell, powered into the zone and fired a shot short-side into the upper left corner to win the tournament. The 3-2 come-from-behind, overtime victory marked the Jr. Kings’ second comeback OT victory of the tournament, as they also rallied from down two goals to win 4-3 in OT in the quarterfinals.