SHOW Final Face-Off Semi-Finals Deliver Nonstop Action

The semi-finals at the SHOW Final Face-Off didn’t disappoint, with fast-paced action and standout plays across every division. Teams battled hard for a spot in the championship, and the intensity set the stage for an exciting finale. Check out all the scores here.

18U Gold:

The Orland Park Vikings took down the California Wave in the 18U Gold Division Semi-Final as they advance to the Championship to be played Monday afternoon. The Vikings did an outstanding job of capitalizing on their opportunities and holding their lead until the final buzzer. About 14 minutes into the first period, Keegan Bovee got the Vikings started with a power play goal out in front of the net. About eight minutes into the second period, two penalties were taken on the same play by the Waves that sent the Vikings to a 5-on-3 man advantage. First, Drake Augusta was able to capitalize, and then Nicholas Cozzi joined in and gave his team a 3-0 lead. With four seconds remaining in the second period, Jake Soule picked up a rebound and scored the lone Wave goal of the game on their own power play. The third period came and went with no new goal scorers, and the Vikings packed up the Wave to punch their ticket to the championship game. A very evenly matched game despite the unanswered nature of the Vikings win. Shots were even, both teams received a similar amount of time on the power play, only the Vikings were able to capitalize on these opportunities and create meaningful scoring chances.

The Seventh Fire Eagles beat the reigning Champion Chicago Hawks in a 4-2 upset to punch their ticket to the Gold Division Championship. The Eagles did an excellent job of getting started early and standing strong in the face of adversity, a trait necessary for a Champion. Sam Pierce and Kehl Thompson connected for a gritty first goal of the game that gave the Eagles their first lead. They then went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead over the Hawks. Approaching the midpoint of the second period, Landen Hanson set up Nathan Allan in the slot who snapped home the second Eagle goal. Shortly after, Gavin Weibler got back for the Hawks and got his Hawks within one. With two minutes remaining in the period, Mark Rainey threw a knuckleball from the high slot that found the back of the net and evened up the score heading into the third period. A little over five minutes into the frame, Brody Boyer took a roughing penalty that sent the Eagles to the power play, a facet of the game they had yet to capitalize on. This opportunity was different as Willem Kirk-Bertens got open in front of the goaltender and potted in the open cage to regain the Eagles lead. Lucas Garatti then scored the empty netter and put this one on ice. Many believe that a hockey team is only as good as their goaltender. Eagles netminder Barrett Hayes saved 35 of 37 Hawks shots, an exceptional stat line that laid the framework for the rest of the team to succeed.

18U Silver:

The Monument Hockey Academy took on North Broward Prep in the 18U Silver Semifinals. In the opening period North Broward would strike first with an unassisted goal from Tommy Isbister. Monument Hockey Academy would then get on the board with a goal from Colton Paul, Dean Venezia with the assist. North Broward would then answer back to take the lead with a goal from Jason Meyers, Camerson Shoop picking up the assist. Tommy Isbister would then score his second unassisted goal of the game for North Broward. In the second period North Broward would continue to grow their lead with another goal from Jason Meyers, being assisted by Maximus Studley. Monument would finally answer back with a goal from Ian King, Marcus Cebula and Casch Cooper getting the assist. In the span of just 15 seconds Charlie Isbister would score back to back goals for North Broward. Alex Becraft, Ivan Yuferev, and Cooper Emerson each getting an assist. Then just 3 minutes later Charlie Isbister would finish his hat trick with another goal from North Broward, Tommy Isbister getting the assist. Before the end of the period Monument would score with a goal from Rafe Poucher, Steel Owens picking up the assist. In the final period Tommy Isbister would finish his hat trick with a power play goal, being assisted by Arseny Yuferev. Arseny Yuferev would then get a goal of his own to extend North Broward’s lead. Monument would then get back on the board with a power play goal from Marcus Cebula, assisted by Nathan Mcilhany and Casch Cooper. North Broward would answer back with a goal from Alex Becraft, Arseny Yuferev with another assist. To finish the game Cooper Emerson would score on a power play, unassisted goal for North Broward. North Broward Prep advances to the championship with an  11-4 win over Monument Hockey Academy.

The St. Louis Sting took on the Midwest Blackbirds in the 18U Silver Semi-finals. In the opening period the Blackbirds would strike first with a goal from Jackson Alilovich, Luca Rodrigue with the assist. Just 30 seconds later the Sting would get on the board with a goal from Henry Brockman, Nate Schuering and Luke Grab with the assist. In the second period only one goal was scored from Jackson Alilvich, his second of the game, Dylan Rose picking up the assist. In the final period the Blackbirds would score again with a goal from Jameson Warner, Cillian Sheehan and Kameron Hordos picking up the assist. The Sting would answer back with a goal from Dylan Maynard, Evan Hill and Logan Landwenr picking up the assist. The Blackbirds would then answer back with a goal from Nicholas Kutka, Jackson Alilovich picking up the assist. With 1:29 left in the game the Sting would make it a one point game with a goal from Luke Grab, Ryan Adkerson with the assist. But with just 47 seconds left in the game the Blackbirds would score the dagger on an empty net, Ian Rowland scoring the game ender, Johnathan Jamicich and Dylan Rose getting another assist. The Blackbirds move on to the championship with a 5-3 win over the Sting.

16U Gold:

The first semifinal featured the Jacksonville Jr. Icemen, who won their earlier match in the day against the Mckinney North Stars 6-3, against the St. Louis Sting, who won their earlier match against Team Wyoming 7-3. The game between Jacksonville and St. Louis was close, with the Jr. Icemen opening the scoring with a goal in the first period. St. Louis tied up the game with a goal in the second period. In the third period, with a little over five minutes remaining, Hayden Brasiel scored the game-winning goal for the Sting.

The second semifinal for the Gold Division featured the Anaheim Jr. Ducks, who won their match earlier in the day against the Chicago Jets 16 10-2, against the Orland Park Vikings, who won their match against the Chicago Hawks 2-1. Anaheim took a quick lead in the game with two unanswered goals in the first. In the second period, Anaheim extended their lead to three before the Park Vikings were able to score two goals of their own to bring the lead down to one. In the third period, the Park Vikings were able to tie up the score, but Anaheim was quick to score an additional three goals to win the game 6-3. 

15U/16U Silver:

The Lake County Vipers 15U earned a 4-0 shutout win over the Tampa Bay Crunch 15U. Lake County opened the scoring in the first period on the power play when Chase Borgford scored, assisted by Nathan Taormina. Later in the period, Drew Sager added another goal with assists from Aaron Krivopisk and Nathen Bailey to make it 2-0 after one. The second period was scoreless. In the third, Bennett Forman scored on the power play, assisted by Nathen Bailey and Bekim Alijoski. William Binkley closed out the scoring with a shorthanded goal, assisted by Chase Borgford and Bekim Alijoski. The Chicago Hawks earned a 5-2 win over the California Heat. Chicago opened the scoring early in the first period when Olaf Jargola found the net, assisted by Aiden Gremchuck and Jonathan Nix. In the second period, California tied the game on a goal from Gevork Sulyan, assisted by Daniel Gonzalez. Chicago answered back with a goal from Marco Castaneda, assisted by Amadeus Marrion. Late in the period, Jonathan Nix scored on the power play, assisted by Jack Blackburn, to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead after two. The Hawks extended their lead in the third with a goal from Dylan Dement, assisted by John Gotto. California responded on the power play as Hrach Chtrkyan scored with assists from Alexander Davoodi and Logan Smith. Chicago sealed the win with a goal from Tyler Hunger, assisted by Dylan and Gregory.

14U: 

The West Dundee Leafs overcame a two-goal deficit Sunday, taking down Team Wyoming by a final score of 3-2 in the semifinal. The Leafs advanced thanks to a diverse offense, getting goals and points from seven different skaters in the comeback victory. Team Wyoming started off strong, tallying the only goal of the first period. Braxton Zdrojewski’s fourth goal of the year with just under two minutes to go in the first period gave Team Wyoming a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Wyoming doubled the lead thanks to Eli Bomba’s fifth goal of the year midway through the middle frame. The Leafs finally broke through with 3:55 left in the second period when Joseph Sahli notched his 12th goal of the year to cut the Wyoming lead to 2-1 heading to the third period. West Dundee’s offense came alive in the last 20 minutes. Matthew Suptela got the Leafs back even with his 10th of the year with 15:33 remaining in the game the Leafs found another strike just 2:23 after Suptela’s goal. Caden Johnson nabbed his fourth marker of the season to give West Dundee its first lead of the game with just over 13 minutes to go. Team Wyoming searched desperately for the equalizer in the final minutes, but Leafs goaltender Kyle Suchecki and the rest of the West Dundee defense stood tall to secure the tightly-contested 3-2 win for the Leafs.

An explosive performance from Chicago Hawks forward Ian Faust led his team to a high-scoring 8-6 victory over Nest Hockey Academy Sunday in the NAPHL 14u Semifinal. Faust played Superman for the Hawks in Sunday’s contest, posting a whopping five goals and one assist in the win – including a natural hat-trick in the first period. Nest Hockey Academy came back from the brink of a 7-3 third-period deficit to bring the score back to 7-6, but fell just short of the equalizer in the waning minutes of the game. Chicago got on the board early thanks to Faust’s first tally of the game (seventh of the season), notching a short-handed goal with 13:31 left in the opening period to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Nest Hockey Academy had a response six minutes later when Cayden Rasmusen buried his 10th of the year to bring the game back even. Faust announced his presence again late in the first period when he tallied two goals just 33 seconds apart to complete the hat-trick and send Chicago to the first intermission ahead 3-1. The goals were Faust’s eighth and ninth of the season. The Hawks extended the lead just under nine minutes into the middle frame as Jackson Adams (seventh) found the net via the power play to extend the Hawks’ lead to 4-1. Rasmusen had an immediate response for Nest Hockey Academy, posting his second goal of the game and 11th of the season just 14 seconds later to cut the deficit back down to two goals. Just under five minutes after Rasmusen’s goal, Faust netted his fourth score of the game and 10th of the season to send Chicago to the final period ahead 5-2. After a hat-trick goal from Rasmusen (12th) and two goals from Chicago’s Nick Faust (fifth and sixth) put the Hawks ahead 7-2 in the third period, Nest Hockey Academy put together a frantic comeback thanks power-play goals from Michael Meredith (fifth), Breyden Wilson (eighth) and an even-strength tally by Jacob Dominguez (fourth) to cut Chicago’s lead to 7-6 with just over five minutes to go. Ian Faust provided the dagger for the Hawks, posting his fifth goal of the game and 11th of the season to seal the high-scoring 8-6 win for Chicago.