Spartans Midget Majors and Minors Sweep the Tier-1 State Tournaments

2009-11-03


The Spartans 93 Elites celebrate their Tier-1 Midget Minor State Championship

All three midget teams advance to the New England Tier-1 Regionals.

For the second year in a row, all three Seacoast Spartans midget teams have advanced to the New England Tier-1 Regional Tournament, which will be held at the Berkshire School November 13-15.  The winner of the U-18 divison and U-16 division will advance to the USA Hockey Tier-1 National Championship held in April.

At the U-18 Midget Major level, after finshing in 1st place in the regular season standings the Spartans defeated the NH Avalanche team 6-0 in the first round-robin game on Friday night.  On Saturday night the 91 Elites hit a bump in the round being upset by the 3rd place NH Jr. Monarchs 91 team 3-1.  This resulted in the Spartans having to face the 2nd place Manchester Flames in the semi finals Sunday morning.

The Spartans rebounded in the morning defeating the Flames 6-0.  During the second period there was a very scary situation as Nick Michaud drove to the net and scored giving the Spartans a multi-goal lead.  While scoring, Michaud was tripped up falling over the Manchester goalie resulting in Michaud's feet flipping up in the air and one his skate blades hit teammate Nick Luce in the neck cutting Luce.  With the help of an off-duty firefighter and nurse Luce was attended to and the situation was controlled.  Luce received 10 stitches in his neck but thankfully he is fine and was in attendance at the final game, but did not play.  

In the finals the Spartans faced-off against the NH Jr. Monarchs 92 team that knocked off the Monarchs 91s in the other semi final match-up.  The Monarchs 92s had little left in the tank after their hard fought semi final game that morning and the Spartans rolled to an 11-1 victory in the finals.

In the U-16 Midget Minor division, it was an all Spartans final with the 93 Elites facing-off against the 94 Elite team with the 93s taking the finals and the State Tier-1 title with an easy 8-0 victory.

The regular season first place 93 Elites waltzed through the round-robin portion of the tournament posting 10-0 and 9-2 victories over Hanover and the Manchester Flames, respectively.  The Spartans 93s had to earn their victory in the semi finals as the NH Jr. Monarchs 93 team gave them a tough battle and all they could handle.  The Spartans 93s finished off the Monarchs 5-3 after the game was tied 3-3 in the third period.

After finishing in second place in the regular season standings, the Spartans 94 Elites had to work a little harder to earn their birth to the finals and their bid to the New England Tier-1 Regionals.  In the round-robin games the Spartans first downed Concord 4-1 in a game that was tight all the way until the Spartans scored a couple of late goals in the third period.  The second game was a 4-4 tie with Monarchs 93s with the Spartans jumping out to a 3-0 lead before hanging on for the tie where the Monarchs dominated most of the second half of the game.  The tie gave the 94 Elites the first place seed in their bracket.

The semi finals was a fantastic hockey game with the Manchester Flames.  The Spartans played well in the first half but the Flames played a little better taking a 1-0 lead into the locker-room at the half-way mark.  In the second half the Spartans 94s played some of their best hockey of the season ultimately taking the game by a 4-1 score.  Similar to the Midget Major finals, unfortunately, the 94s could not muster up much of a fight coming off such a physically and emotionally draining semi final game as the 93s took the final game 8-0.

Good luck to all three teams this weekend at the USA Hockey Tier-1 New England Regional Tournament!