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U14 Esmark Stars Win NAPHL Futures Tournament

By DWK, 01/24/15, 5:45PM EST

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Go Undefeated at Troy Showcase

The 14U AAA Esmark Stars emerged as champions of the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL) Bantam Tournament Series (BTS) going 5-0-0 at the "Futures Tournament" in Troy, MI, Jan. 16 - 18, 2015.

The Stars opened play with a 9-2 win over the Texas Jr. Brahma's as Billy Rapone (2G, 2A) and Gavin Morrison (2G) each scored twice.  Matt Weber (1G, 2A), Jared Schmizzi (1G, 1A), Andrew Wells, Nick Koziara, and Christian Gorscak each added a goal.  Dawson Sciarrino (2), Nicholas Carretta (2), Brendan Crousey, Giovanni Romeo, Samuel Stites and Chazz Knoche all picked up assists.  Zach Welker earned the win in goal turning aside 8 of 10 Texas shots.

In the second game of the tournament, the Stars hooked up with Hockey Club Dallas for their forth meeting of the season.  The Stars and HC Dallas previously met twice at the NAPHL Futures Tournament in Blaine, MN, splitting the two games, which ultimately prevented the Stars from playing for the championship in the Blaine event.  Another hard fought game was not finalized until the last two seconds of the game, as Giovanni Romeo found the net, unassisted, with two ticks left on the clock to give the Stars a 2-1 win.  Matthew Weber had staked the Stars to a 1-0 lead with a power play goal early in the first.  The Stars defense played an outstanding game and goaltender Nolen Feree stopped 14 of 15 shots to earn the win in goal.

The Stars clinched a spot in the tournament championship game with a convincing 11-0 win over the West Coast Renegades in game three of the event.  Christian Gorscak (3G) led the way offensively as he tallied a hat-trick.  Nicholas Solema (2G), Nocholas Caretta (1G, 3A), Justin Adamski (1G, 1A), Andrew Wells (1G, 1A), Dawson Sciarrino, Nick Koziara, Chazz Knoche also scored.  Jared Schimizzi (4A), Billy Rapone (2A), Sam Stites (2A), Matthew Weber and Dylan Culbertson earned assists.  Zach Welker earned his second win of the tournament in goal.

Game four of round-robin play saw the Stars square off with a tough Omaha AAA team in a preview of the championship game to come.  The Stars skated to a 2-0 lead after two periods as Justin Adamski scored a power play goal late in the first period, with assists from Blake Rossi and Nicholas Solema, and Brendan Crousey scored an unassisted goal six minutes into the second period.  Omaha mounted a furious comeback in the third period and knotted the score with a power play goal with a little over three minutes remaining in regulation.  The game ended in a tie and went to a shootout. A tense back and forth shootout ensued with both goaltenders making save after save until the Stars Billy Rapone iced the game, 3-2, with a final tally.  Zach Welker earned his third win of the tournament in goal.

The NAPHL BTS Series Championship game was a rematch of the Stars and Omaha AAA.  After a scoreless first period, the Stars exploded for four unanswered goals in the second period.  Justin Adamski opened the scoring with a power play goal, 19 seconds into period 2, as Sam Stites and Blake Rossi picked up assists.  Rossi, picked up a power play goal of his own at the 10:45 mark of period 2 to push the lead to 2-0.  Jared Schmizzi earned the lone assist.  A little over a minute later (11:48 of period 2), Christian Gorscak stretched the lead to 3-0 with assists from Nicholas Carretta and Andrew Wells.  Nicholas Solema closed the scoring in the second period and extended the Stars lead to 4-0 with a goal at 14:43.  Schmizzi earned his second assist of the game.  Omaha scored two goals a little over two minutes apart early in the third period (3:01 and 5:07) to cut the Stars lead to 4-2.  But Oldrich Virag fired home a empty net goal to push the Stars lead to 5-2 at 15:05 of the third.  Brendan Crousey closed out the scoring, 6-2, as he collected an unassisted, empty net, short-handed goal at 15;44.  Nolen Ferree turned aside 23 of the 25 shots he faced to earn the win in goal.