Pittsburgh Hornets U14 to Compete in USA Hockey National Championships

2007 Districts - Tier I - 14U - Mid-Am
By Daniel Casciato - March 23, 2007

Special to usahockey.com

The Pittsburgh Hornets advanced to USA Hockey's Tier I 14 & Under National Championship after shutting out the Cleveland Barons, 7-0, in the Mid-American District tournament March 18. The tournament begins March 28 in Buffalo, N.Y. “It’s a tremendous feeling to go back and play for the national championship,” said Hornets’ coach, Jim Lilja, after the game. “We were there two years ago and fell short.” The Hornets are making their second trip in three years to Nationals.

In 2005, they finished in third place at the Tier I 12 & Under event held in Anchorage, Alaska, after losing in the semifinals to the New Jersey Avalanche, the eventual champion. “This team has been together for five years now,” said Lilja. “Some have come and gone, but the nucleus of the team has been here. We’re excited to go back.”

It didn’t start out easy for the Hornets. They squeaked out a 3-2 overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Junior Penguins to open the district tournament Friday. “The competition was tough this year,” said Lilja. “The Penguins have gotten better throughout the year and they battled us hard Friday. And the Barons have played some great games this season. We had our hands full, but we made some defensive adjustments, which helped us.” Lilja stressed to his players about playing a more disciplined game. “We got into some penalty trouble in our last few games,” he said. “We talked about being disciplined, staying out of the penalty box and just sticking to our game plan.”

Goaltender Michael House had a 0.95 goals against average during the tournament and stopped 95 percent of the shots he faced. “It was a great win for us. Leaving here on Friday, we didn’t play that great and we knew we had to turn it around and get the big win Sunday,” House said. “Our coach told us about the mistakes that we made Friday and how to fix them. Penalties were obviously a big one. We had to work better on the power play, too.”

House said he is looking forward to going back to Nationals and hoping for a better outcome. “Our coaches have motivated us all year long,” he said. “We were close two years ago and we’re ready now.” Forward Brandon Sadd led all players with three goals and two assists in the tournament. “I think we need to work a little harder once we get to Buffalo,” he said. “We could have played better and were lucky to win Friday. But we won our [final] and it feels great. This was our dream all year. After the second period, coach told us to keep working hard and don’t let up.”

The Hornets will play their first game at Nationals against the LA Hockey Club. “We’re going to continue to work hard, focus on the fundamentals and stick to the game plan,” said Lilja. “We have some fast guys moving the puck. We forecheck and put a lot of pressure on the other teams. The keys to our success so far have been just getting a lot of quality shots on net and [looking for] rebounds.”

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.