The 2016 CCM High Performance Tier 1 Leagues kicked off their inaugural competition weekends on August 26-28.  The teams, made up of the top 14 and 15 year old players in Minnesota, will play in 12 regular season games across four weekends through the end of September.

Three teams in particular got off to a super fast start. The Girls 14 Polars (Districts 3/5), Girls 14 Lakers (District 6) and Youth 14 Blue Ox (North) all kicked off league play with three straight wins. The Lakers and Polars each showed they know how to win tight games as none of their wins were by more than a two goal margin. Meanwhile, the Blue Ox showed they may be an early favorite at the Youth 14 level after out-scoring their opponents 21-5.

A few players also made statements during the opening weekend. Five teams posted their first shutouts, including the Youth 14 Blue Ox (Carter Clafton/Oscar Copiskey), Girls 14 Lakers (Carly Greene/Alexandra Pellicci), Girls 14 Loons (Paige Paulos/Mirisa Lunzer), Youth 15 Moose (Morgan Donohue) and Youth 15 Walleye (Trevor Wong/Danny Fraga).  The weekend also featured the leagues’ first hat tricks as Gabby Krause (Girls 14 Green Giants) and Carson Jones (Youth 15 Lakers) each catapulted their team to wins with big time goal scoring.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Girls 14 – Polars 3, North Dakota 2

As a part of the 2016 CCM HP Tier 1 Leagues, we will be featuring one game each week where we provide a more in-depth recap to help you keep track of the most exciting action.

This week we’re featuring a Girls 14 showdown between the ladies from Districts 3/5 and our northwestern neighbors, which was highlighted by extremely clean hockey (no penalties) and the most exciting third period of the weekend.

The first period between the teams was even as can be as they traded nine shots each. The only difference was Tristana Tatur (Osseo-Maple Grove) found the twine at the 9:16 mark to give the Polars a 1-0 lead at Ridder Arena. The Polars turned it up a notch in the second period, out-shooting North Dakota 10-6, but they weren’t able to add to their lead. They finally were able to break through early in the third as Brooke Pioske (Mound Westonka) made it 2-0 for the Polars.

The game was far from over though. North Dakota responded with two goals just 17 seconds apart to tie the game 2-2 with less than nine minutes remaining in the third period.

The Polars rebounded and put on heavy pressure as they hoped to secure their first league win, but it looked like the game was headed for a tie. That is… until Brigitta Goetsch (Osseo-Maple Grove) took a feed from Lucy Hanson (Wayzata) and Tatur and buried the game winner with one second left on the clock, sending the Polars bench into a celebratory frenzy.

The Girls 14, Youth 14 and Youth 15 Tier 1 Leagues will resume action on September 9-11 in Duluth, Bemidji and Blaine, respectively. The Girls 15 Tier 1 League will start on September 10th in Eden Prairie. 

For more scores, stats and standings, follow the links below for all of the details from the Tier 1 Leagues’ inaugural games. 

The CCM Minnesota Hockey High Performance Tier 1 Leagues are a prestigious series of tryouts, skill development sessions and competition weekends that provide the top players from each district or section a chance to play with and against the best players in the state.  The Leagues are conducted in accordance with USA Hockey rules and all teams are eligible for USA Hockey’s Tier 1 National Championships.