Jr. Coyotes sweep to four Tier I state championships
Early February kicked off the Arizona Amateur Hockey Association state championships and the Jr. Coyotes brought home all four Tier I titles this year.
18U: The Jr. Coyotes swept this series in two straight over the Bobcats, culminating in a 4-2 win on Feb. 3 at AZ Ice Arcadia.
In the clinching game, Dylan Berg scored twice, while Jacob Lester and Dimitri Karnavkh notched goals to back Tristan Hadley’s 28 saves in net.
For the Bobcats, Tito Moreno went for a goal and an assist, Michael Bloom added a goal and Riley Morgan stopped 53 shots.
The opening game of the series saw the Jr. Coyotes take a 5-4 win as Jack Strauss’ goal at 19:09 was the game-winning tally in the third period.
Kyle DeCoster, Dylan Zucker, Aldyn Sullivan and Dante Bagnasco also scored, and goaltender Michael Magnuson turned aside 21 shots.
Moreno and Patrick Murphy each had a goal and an assist for the Bobcats, with Daniel Ramsey and Spencer Berkley adding single goals and Morgan making 14 saves.
16U: The Bobcats won the opening game 4-3 in overtime on a Carson Kuche goal, but the Jr. Coyotes won the next two.
Anthony Bonaldi stopped 24 shots for the win in the first game.
The second game saw the Jr. Coyotes win 4-1 as Kyan Lakin, Brett Morich, Trevor Griebel all had a goal and an assist and Cavanaugh Holbrook made 23 saves.
In the rubber game on Feb. 10 at the Ice Den Scottsdale, Noah Vance and Jacob Poteet each had a goal and an assist and Holbrook made 16 saves in a 3-2 win.
Oliver Chase and Andrew Ramsey registered goals for the Bobcats and Bonaldi turned aside 21.
15U: At the 15U level, the Jr. Coyotes swept the Bobcats by scores of 8-1 and 7-2, wrapping up Feb. 2 at AZ Ice Arcadia.
Josh Doan scored a pair of goals in the clincher, while Riley Stuart, Jake Alcaraz, Jake Norling, Nick Smith and Coleton Panowyk scored and goalie Jake Hall made 14 stops.
Deven Wang and Aidan Coupe scored for the Bobcats and Luke Fundator recorded 55 saves.
Opening the series, Alcaraz had three goals and two assists, Smith a goal and three assists, Norling two goals and Sam Deckhut three assists as Jackson Dylla stopped 14 shots in goal. Stuart and Doan also scored.
Presley Morris tallied the Bobcats’ lone goal and Fundator and Caleb Wall combined on a 51-save effort.
14U: The Jr. Coyotes took both contests against the Bobcats by identical 3-2 scores.
In the opening game, Josef Nermyr had two goals and Dalton Berg a goal and an assist to back Hunter Hein’s 11 saves.
Ty Nash recorded two goals for the Bobcats and Trevor Gilson posted 24 saves
In the clincher Feb. 10 at Arcadia, Berg, Max Potvin and Caden Butler tallied goals and Thomas Pientka stopped 21 shots.
Nash and Alec Geddes scored for the Bobcats, while Gilson and Dylan Sharkey combined to make 40 saves.
— Matt Mackinder
(Feb. 27, 2018)