The MYHA Blue Devils faced off against quality teams from Illinois, Colorado and Texas over the MLK weekend to capture the tournament championship in the Bantam A division.

The Blue Devils deployed a balanced scoring attack with every player getting at least 1 point.  The leading scorer for the Blue Devils was Jorrdan Osafo with 7 goals and 3 assists.

The goal-tending was very strong for the Devils as well with the tandem of Chris With and Thomas O’Toole combined for a 0.900 save percentage and a 2.4 GAA.  Both goalies received game honors for their play during the tournament.

The following players were honored as game MVPs for the Blue Devils: Jorrdan Osafo (twice), Luke Cashion, Chris With (Finals). 

The Blue Devils went 2-1 in the Round Robin games easily dispatching the Flyers and Hawks but falling 5-1 to the Houston Wild.  In that game, the Devils special teams had particular trouble giving up 2 power play goals (on 4 penalty kills) and 2 shorthanded goals (on 3 power plays).

In the semi-finals, the Blue Devils faced a rematch with a high motivated Hawks team.  Like their first matchup, the game was rough and intense with a total of 16 penalties called (up from 10 penalties in their first meeting).  The Blue Devils made the Hawks pay on special teams scoring 3 times on the power play and adding a short-handed goal as well.

The final was a rematch with the Houston Wild and a chance to avenge their only loss in the tournament.  MYHA prevailed in a taunt 2-1 victory.  Once again, the Blue Devils had trouble staying out of the penalty box but unlike their first game, the penalty killers were equal to the task giving up only a single power play goal.

The game winner was scored in dramatic fashion by Andrew Wilson who deflected in a point shot from Nick Hebert early in the third period.  The Blue Devils goalie, Chris With, then preserved the win turning aside 9 shots in the third period and making 27 saves for the game.


 

In between the hockey, the team squeezed in some fabulous activities including playing some football at AT&T Stadium (home of the Cowboys) and catching a Dallas Stars game.