Madison, Omaha riding high from Bauer Invite Championships

November 10, 2016

On the heels of the third NAPHL event of the season in Colorado, two teams enter the event riding a wave of momentum from capturing championships at last weekend’s Bauer Invite Tournament in Chicago, IL.

 

The Omaha AAA Hockey Club won the title at the 16U level, while the Madison Capitols won the championship at the 18U level.

 

The wins are yet further evidence that the NAPHL is competing at an all-time high level and is at the elite of USA Hockey Tier I youth programs when it comes to competition, training and exposure.

 

 

Madison Capitols 18U head coach Adam Kostichka had the following input from the event… 

 

“We are really proud of our guys, and how they competed.  We started out the tournament a little slow on Friday with a couple ties after blowing multiple goal leads.  We challenged the leadership of this group and the team to be better. The players responded and we got on a roll.  I think we learned a lot about the type of team that we have.  It's never easy to win five, one-goal games (2 via shootout) in a row against really quality opponents.  We just stuck to the game plan and were able to keep moving on.”

 

“We have to attribute a lot of our success to our depth at all positions.  We had big contributions from all 20 players, and that was key as we got into Sunday.  We had a big boost in energy by being able to role four lines, six defensemen, for the majority of the weekend.  We also got great play in net from both of our goaltenders.  Being able to rotate goalies game to game without any drop off is a huge advantage for us.”

 

We are really excited to be able to win a tournament like this for this group, our organization and the NAPHL.  Our kids are working extremely hard on a daily basis, and it's they are able to have this type of success. We hope to build off this weekend and take what we learned into the rest of our season.  We were able to accomplish our goal of winning the tournament, but now it is time to get back to work and start pushing for the next one.”   

 

 

The Omaha AAA Hockey Club U16's won their 1st ever Bauer World Invite Championship this past Sunday November 6, 2016 in Chicago. The Bauer Invite is the world’s largest AAA hockey tournament and is a much coveted and fought for title in the U16 Supreme division. Omaha went 7-0 in the process and outscored its opponents 33-6 in the 3-day tournament. 

 

 

David Wilkie, Omaha AAA Hockey Club U16 Head Coach had the following to say…

 

"We battled and battled and never quit this weekend. I am so proud of this team. They deserve all of the credit and recognition that goes along with our success so far this year and this is a huge feather in our hats. We have been trying to win this title in Chicago for 7 years and we finally broke through with this group. It was a complete team effort and every single player on the team contributed to this championship. This event is a grind with having to play 7 games in 3 days but we showed guts and resiliency especially on Sunday and were fortunate enough to make enough plays to come out on top. It was quite a ride and the championship game was a comeback like I have never seen before with my own eyes in a game with that much on the line. Awesome just awesome.”

 

Game #1: 5-0 win vs Northern Cyclones

Aaron Bohlinger (Walden , New York ) 1G 2A and Kohl Reddy (Seattle , Washington) with the shutout

 

- Game #2 November 4 , 2016

5-1 win vs New Jersey Jr Titans

Coltan Wilkie (Omaha , Nebraska) 1G 2A , Ethan Rodriguez (2G) and Jake Sibell (Cambridge , Minnesota) with the win in the net

 

- Game #3 November 5 , 2016

5-0 win vs Arizona Bobcats

Sam Renlund (Verona , Wisconsin) 2G  2A , Kirill Tarasov (Belgarod , Russia) 2G 1A and Kohl Reddy (Seattle , Washington) with his 2nd straight shutout

 

- Game #4 November 5 , 2016

7-1 win vs St Louis Selects

Nikolai Jenson (Cold Springs , Minnesota) 1G 2A , Jackson Wille (Forest Lake , Minnesota) 1G 2A and Jake Sibell (Cambridge , Minnesota) with a great effort in net

 

- Game #5 November 6 , 2016

3-0 win vs Chicago Mission

Aaron Bohlinger (Walden , New York) , Sam Renlund (Verona , Wisconsin) and Jackson Wille (Forest Lake , Minnesota) provided the goal scoring . Coltan Wilkie (Omaha , Nebraska) and Nikolai Jenson (Cold Springs , Minnesota) each chipped in 2 assists. Jake Sibell (Cambridge , Minnesota) 

 

- Game #6 November 6 , 2016

3-0 win vs Yale Lions Prep

Aaron Bohlinger (Walden , New York) , Jordan Randall (Maple Grove , Minnesota) and Dustin Sorensen (Rochester , Minnesota) paced the goal scoring attack . Kohl Reddy (Seattle , Washington) with his 3rd shutout in a row.

 

- Game #7 November 6 , 2016

5-4 win in 2OT vs Milwaukee Jr Admirals

Omaha AAA was down 4-0 with 12 minutes to play in the 3rd period when the incredible comeback started. Nick Wieben (Mankato , Minnesota) got the 1st at the 12:34 mark. Sam Renlund (Verona , Wisconsin) potted the second at 11:28. Jordan Randall got the 3rd at 7:09. Coltan Wilkie (Omaha , Nebraska) scored the tying goal with 1:51 left in regulation with the goalie pulled for the extra attacker. The teams then played 5 minutes of 4 on 4 overtime and were still tied. The game then went to 3 on 3 overtime and Jordan Randall (Maple Grove , Minnesota) was the hero at the 1:51 mark when he poked home a cross ice feed from Sam Renlund (Verona , Wisconsin) and The Omaha AAA U16 team completed its improbable comeback in the final to claim their 1st ever Bauer Invite Championship.