(March 10-12, 2017) The boys 16U hockey team had a solid showing at states, but fell just short of earning a berth to the USA Hockey National Championships.
In game one the Huskies faced off against the hometown Buffalo Regals. Despite powerplay goals from Will Arquiett (Forward, 2019) and Pat Callahan (Forward, 2018) Northwood suffered a tough 3-2 overtime loss, but earned 1 point from the game.
As a result of the OT loss, game two was a must-win against a scrappy Syracuse Stars team. Northwood controlled play from the start, but had trouble beating the Stars goaltender. The Huskies continued to battle and netted two goals securing a 2-0 victory behind a Verneri Virtanen (2019) shutout.
A game three win against the Westchester Express, whom Northwood tied earlier on in the season, was another must in order to secure a trip to nationals. The Huskies came out flying and jumped on the Express early, forcing them to take penalties, but Northwood couldn’t capitalize on their power play chances. Northwood held a 2-1 advantage heading into the 3rd period, behind goals from Pat Callahan (Forward, 2018) and Sean Bunting (Forward, 2019). A Westchester goal early in the third knotted the game at two, and Westchester took the lead with less than 10 minutes to go. Northwood pushed back, but failed to score and tie up the game.
The loss meant the end of the season for the 16U team. Head Coach Trevor Gilligan said, “It was a tremendous season, with lots of mental and physical growth and development. I couldn’t be more proud of the consistent effort each member put in throughout the year. It is certainly a team, and season, that I will look back on and smile.”
