Coming Home: Team Pennsylvania Wins the HHOF Future Legends Tournament
Written By Zachary Bair
The trip back from Toronto was an exciting one for Team Pennsylvania Brick as they came home with a first place trophy and their first tournament win in team history. This past weekend the team traveled to Toronto to play in the Hockey Hall of Fame Future Legends Hockey Tournament. The tournament showcases over 250 of the best youth male and female hockey players throughout all of North America and sometimes abroad. This year Team Pennsylvania Brick came out of the locker room ready to go and paved their way into a playoff spot by winning their first three games.
Team Pennsylvania’s first action of the weekend was Friday morning against Team Quebec. Jackson Accardi of Team PA scored just 16 seconds into the opening period yet trailed 2-1 heading into the second because of two quick goals at the midway point of the first for Team Quebec. Team Quebec added to their lead four minutes into the second with their third goal of the game. Team Pennsylvania Brick battled back throughout the rest of the second and with goals from John Mooney and Parker Nyitray the teams entered the third tied at three apiece. The third period was all Team Pennsylvania as Tommy Spencer scored early in the period to take a 4-3 lead. Around the seven minute mark Ethan Coots of Team PA netted a goal to extend the lead to two. Team PA scored again at the 13 minute mark, courtesy of Mario Dewees, to seal a 6-3 win and cap of the comeback by scoring five goals unanswered.
Team Pennsylvania’s success carried into game two against Ontario Selects. Team PA scored three times in the game’s first five minutes to jump to the quick lead. The goals were the first of the tournament for all three players Alex Small, Quinn McKenzie, and Joseph Argentina. Tommy Spencer and John Mooney then added two more goals, a goal apiece, to extend their lead to 5-0 heading into the second. Team PA scored five more goals in the second with two of them coming off of Quinn McKenzie’s stick. John Mooney, Mario Dewees, and Brady Logue each tallied a goal in the second extending Team PA’s lead to 10-0. The game did not slow down in the third as Team PA scored 6-0 to cap a 16-0 win over the Ontario Selects. Eleven different skates for Team PA registered points. Quinn McKenzie scored five goals and added two assists while John Mooney netted a hat trick of his own. Ethan Coots and Mario Dewees each point up four points and combined for two goals and six assists.
Saturday morning Team Pennsylvania took on the CT Junior Rangers in their third game of the tournament. At the four minute mark of the first the CT Junior Rangers scored to take a 1-0 lead. However, it was their last goal of the game as Team Pennsylvania stormed back and took a 3-1 lead into the second frame. Team PA then added two goals in the second and two in the third. Patrick Sweeney and Ethan Coots each scored their first goals of the tournament in the remaining as Team PA capped off a 7-1 victory over the CT Junior Rangers.
In their last game of pool play Team Pennsylvania got off to a slow start against Regional Express Gold. Regional Express scored in pairs and scored two goals in the first two minutes of the game. Regional Express added a third tally at the eight minute mark and scored again less than a minute later. Regional Express Gold then netted a goal at the ten minute mark and another 43 seconds later. Heading into the second Team PA was down 6-0. Mario Dewees of Team PA scored the first goal of the second to bring the score to 6-1. However, Regional Express scored three more goals and won the game 9-1.
Fresh off of a 9-1 loss to Regional Express Gold, Team PA returned to action Sunday morning for their first playoff game in a rematch of the night prior. Team Pennsylvania struck first in the game with a goal by Ethan Coots at the five minute mark of the first. Ten minutes later Regional Express Gold tied the game at 1-1. However, it was not for long as Ethan Coots scored again thirty seconds later to regain the lead 2-1. In the second period Ethan Coots added an assist on a John Mooney goal to extend the lead to 3-1. Charlie Trethewey then scored his first goal of the tournament for Team PA in the second period to make the score 4-1 heading into the third. Regional Express Gold fought their way back in the third period by scoring three unanswered goals to tie the game at 4-4 and force overtime. After some back-and-forth in overtime, Tommy Spencer played hero for Team PA scoring the game winning goal in the shootout to help Team Pennsylvania advance to the championship.
The Championship game was Sunday afternoon and was a showdown between Team Pennsylvania Brick and Pro Hockey – Malkhassian. Both teams came into the game fairly even as their only losses of the tournament came in pool play to Regional Express Gold. The puck dropped for the first and after 15 minutes of action both teams were tied at zero. As soon as the puck dropped for the second Team PA scored. John Mooney tallied a goal just nine seconds into the second frame to break the tie. Brady Logue of Team PA scored three minutes later to extend the lead to 2-0. Pro Hockey battled back and scored their first goal of the game two minutes later and added another shortly after. At the end of two the game was tied up at two apiece heading into the third period. Mario Dewees scored a goal for Team Pennsylvania early in the third period and Ethan Coots added another a minute later. With just over a minute left in the third, Pittsburgh native John Mooney added an insurance marker for Team PA as Pro Hockey – Malkhassian attempted to tie the game up. With the final score of 5-2, Team Pennsylvania Brick won their first ever hockey tournament!
