Two NBL competitors last season under the familiar yellow glow of the court/hockey shooting area. Photo provided.
As the first round of the 2026 NBL tournament concludes, there is a lot of catching up to do, as some of your possible picks who you may have gone far in the tournament may be out already.
The first two games of the season were pretty good ones to watch, with high-level competition and a lot of skill displayed by Riley Doyle ’27 and Zach Klaich ’26, who came out with the 11-8 win after completing a huge comeback to punch their ticket into the elite 8, defeating Adam Sherman ’26 and Williem McArthur ’27.
With our second game of the opening night, we had the dynamic duo of Casey Morrissey ’27 who is one of the players to watch this tournament – possessing unique work ethic and skill – alongside his teammate Chase Brock ’27, with a controlling 11-6 win over Owen Maclean ’26 and Max Stracar ’26, Morrissey ’27 had this to say after the game “this was an easy game for me, I went out on the court and did what I am good at, I expect to go far in this tournament”
Night two had the matchups of Devin Smith ’26 and Luke Lalonde ’26 taking a dominant 11-4 win over Cody Betsch ’26 and Patrick McCormick ’26; the latter duo gave absolutely minimal effort in this game, which was very sad to see.
Game two of the night had Justin Macleod ’26 and Charles Pigeon ’26 winning a very close game, winning 11-10 over Cooper Plotts ’26 and Brennan Poole ’27, knocking them out of the tournament for good. This duo has really high hopes for this tournament, and I can see them doing damage down the stretch, as both players are skilled. They move on to the Elite 8.
Night three displayed some decent games with Drew Tulloch ’26 and Ethan Fitzpatrick ’27 moving on with a solid win over CJ Ericson ’27 and Kelly Matozzo ’28. This was a cake walk game for Drew and Ethan, and they now advance.
Also, in the last game of the night, Henry Kress ’26, with his teammate Miles van Mullen ’27, dominated the game over Ryan Demers ’27 and Elliot Murch ’26. They advanced to the elite 8 and could very well be the favorite to win this year’s tournament.
