Red Blades skate away to title

Nothing went according to form in the Squirt Club Division postseason

tournament.

The division’s top two teams, the ’90 Young Guns and the Eclipse, were

expected to meet last weekend for the division championship. But the ’91

Young Guns and the Red Blades had other plans, as both upended the top

two seeds and instead, met in the title game, themselves.

In the end, it was the Red Blades who were left standing as they

captured the division championship 8-2.

The Red Blades, who finished in third place during the regular season,

skated to a 6-0 lead through two periods and were never threatened.

Their scoring attack featured two goals by each of the Burkhardt boys,

Michael and Joseph, and goals by Noah McKeown, Kourtney Kunichika, Jeremy

Jennings and Shea Doyle.

Andrew Jackson collected two assists and Michael Burkhardt and Joseph

Burkhart each had one.

Tyler Lakes and John Webb each scored for the ’91 Young Guns and Travis Faught had an assist.

The ’91 Young Guns finished fourth during the regular season.

In tournament semifinal action:

’91 Young Guns 9, ’90 Young Guns 8

The ’91 Young Guns burned the net for five, third period goals to come

from behind and upset the No. 1 seed ’90 Young Guns.

David Marabella scored three of those goals five goals and finished

with four overall, in addition to collecting a pair of assists.

Other scoring during the five goal onslaught, which saw the ’91 Young

Guns outscore their rival, 5-1, in the final period, included single

goals by Colten Daigneault and Tyler Lakes.

Daigneault also had two assists and Lakes had one during the decisive

run.

Lakes finished with four goals and Collin Beck had an assist.

Janien Barber had 25 saves in goal.

The ’90 Young Guns, who went 9-1 during the regular season, were

powered by Rocco Grimaldi who scored a match-high five goals and had an

assist.

He was complimented by the two goal and one assist scoring of Jason

Wall, and a goal by Shane Lakes.

Cameron Monahan recorded 23 saves.

Red Blades 10, Eclipse 9

Like the ’91 Young Guns, the Red Blades parlayed a five goal third

period, then scored once in overtime, to an upset of the Eclipse.

Michael Burkhardt scored four of his team’s final six goals, Andrew

Jackson had a goal and an assist, Shea Doyle scored once and Jeremy

Jennings added an assist as the Red Blades outscored the Eclipse 6-2 in

the final period and overtime.

Burkhardt’s performance down the stretch capped an outstanding

offensive game, which saw him lead all scorers with seven goals and an

assist.

Jennings finished with a pair of goals to match two assists, Joseph

Burkhardt handed out three assists and Kourtney Kunichica had an assist.

For the Eclipse, who went 8-1-1 during the regular season and finished

in second place, Chayce Yokoyama, Michael Honda and Sam Robinson each

scored two goals and had an assist.

Bryce Courtney, Sean Burke and Jordan Wallace each scored goals and

Burke and Wallace had an assist.