NorthStar, Florida, and CarShield capture Dixon Cup titles

It was an unprecedented Championship Monday at the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL) Tier 1 Dixon Cup Playoffs and Championship.

The North Texas area was slammed with an historic winter storm that saw 6-8 inches of snow hit the metroplex on Sunday afternoon and evening, which was followed by record-breaking cold, which saw temperatures reach single digits for the first time in decades.

The state’s power grid was pushed to the limit and as a result the entire DFW area experienced rolling blackouts beginning Sunday night into Monday morning. Those blackouts affected every single StarCenter venue that games were be played at, which resulted in the cancelation of the consolation games.

The Showcase Division Championship games at the 18U, 16U, and 14U levels in addition to the Tier 1 14U Championship games will be played on a different date and location as agreed upon by the teams.

The NAPHL was able to get in three of the Tier 1 Dixon Cup Championship games on Monday in Frisco. Despite the games being delayed and starting and stopping several hours because of the rolling power outages, three champions were crowned.

18U Tier 1: NorthStar and Philadelphia faced off for the 18U Dixon Cup on Monday. Philadelphia came out flying, with goals from Byron Hartley and Koby Howat giving them a 2-1 edge over NorthStar, who got on the board thanks to Dylan Cook. And after Cook tallied again early in the second to tie things up, Philadelphia’s Hartley returned fire with his second of the game to restore the Little Flyers’ lead. Cook would not be denied, however, scoring midway through the third to complete a championship hat-trick and force overtime, where Cody Croal potted the deciding tally at 1:45 of the extra frame to push NorthStar to a 4-3 victory.

16U Tier 1: The 16U Dixon Cup Championship came down to a battle between a pair of high-powered offenses in Florida Alliance and NorthStar. NAPHL leading scorer Jake Richard’s star shone brightest in this matchup, as the 2004-born dynamo posted a hat-trick — his sixth straight multi-goal game on the weekend — to guide his team to a 5-2 victory in the title tilt. Richard put Florida ahead early, followed by another Alliance tally by Evan Edwards. And after Bronson Hunt got NorthStar on the board, Richard responded with another marker before the end of the first, giving Florida a two-goal lead after one period. Richard capped off his hat-trick with another goal midway through the second period, though NorthStar’s Brady Jones made it a two-goal game once more, but Edwards potted his second of the game in the third period to seal the Alliance victory as Dixon Cup Champions.

15U Tier 1: Ben Cameron scored twice, Branson Appelman stopped 21 of 22 shots and Carshield rolled past Esmark 4-1 to claim the 15U Dixon Cup Championship. Cameron bagged his first goal of the game late in the first period, giving Carshield a lead it would not relinquish. Aiden Yakovich put Esmark on the board in the middle frame, but Cameron’s second of the game came six minutes later to put Carshield ahead once more. Two more third-period Carshield goals from JP Piwowarczyk and Nicholas Puricelli sealed the 4-1 win for the boys in black and blue, marking their second straight 15U Dixon Cup title.

14U Tier 1: The Arizona Bobcats and Colorado Springs Tigers were named as Co-Champions of the 14U Tier 1 Playoffs for the 2020-21 season. Due to the power outages and inclement weather in the DFW area on February 15th, the championship game was canceled. The Bobcats went through the round-robin at 4-0 and the Tigers were at 3-0 before their final round-robin game was canceled.