Do you believe in Miracles?

Perhaps not quite the underdog that the US Hockey Team was in the 1980 Olympics but the Montgomery Ice Devils prevailed in a hard fought 5-2 victory over the 6th ranked New Jersey Jets.  

The championship culminated 5 years of hard-work, determination and grit by the 18U MYHA program. 

In 2019-2020,  the 18U program won only 4 games  out of 27 and was ranked 253  out of 398 teams.  

The next season started a dramatic turn-around with the team winning 25 games, qualifying for the Nationals in the 3A division and making their first appearance in the National Quarterfinals.  The next three seasons the Ice Devils would do one better losing  close games in the National Semifinals.  

This year the Ice Devils had a tough road being placed in the highest 3A division.  MYHA came in ranked 12 out of the 16 teams with an overall ranking of 17.  Every round robin game was close.  

The Ice Devils beat #14 ranked Columbus Chill 4-3 with the GWG by Colin Doherty with 2:35 left.  The Chill scored two goals in the last 90 seconds but the Ice Devils hung on for the victory.

Next up was a 5-3 victory over #5 Chicago Hawks.  The GWG was scored early in the third period to go up 4-3 with Charlie Ingis providing the insurance goal with 45 seconds left.

To close out the round robin was a 6-5 OT victory over #8 Long Island Rebels.  The Ice Devils were down 3-1 after the first period but battled back.  There were 4 lead changes in the third period and Charlie Ingis finished the game with 9 minutes  into overtime.

In the National Quarter and Semifinals, the Ice Devils dominated #15 Arizona Bobcats 5-2 and #4 Reston Raiders (their nemesis from CBHL)  5-2.

The Ice Devils completed their historic season with a 5-2 victory over #6 New Jersey Jets. 

Colin Doherty was the Offensive MVP of the Championship game scoring three goals including a short-handed goal and the game winning goal (assisted by Grant Wanner and Levi Miller) with 2:56 remaining in the third period.  He would complete a championship hat trick to seal the victory at 1:27 remaining.  An empty net goal with 35 seconds left provided the final margin.

This is the first National Championship for the Ice Devils and the first National Championship for the State Of Maryland.

The goal tending for the Ice Devils was exceptional with James Faricy posting a 2.25 GAA /0.949 SA and Charles Forino 3.96/0.890.  

The Ice Devils were outshot 249 to 188 for the tournament including two games where they gave up 50 or more shots.   The only game the Ice Devils led in shots was the Championship game.

Reid Pehrkon - Washington Post Met Player of the Year led the Ice Devils with 4 goals and 7 assists with Grant Wanner (8g/2a) and Kyle Metzer (5g/3a).

MYHA would like to congratulate the 12U B Silver Team and the 14U UA Gold/13U AA Team on their tournament victories this past weekend.

13UAA/14U UA Gold

Playing in the Can/AM Annapolis Youth Challenge Cup over the MLK Day Weekend, 13UAA/14UA Gold skated to a 4-0 record to capture the gold medal. After outscoring opponents 16-2 during the three game preliminary round, head coach Dan Lyons’ Ice Devils team beat CBHL division rivals Bowie Bruins 4-3 in the finals. In the championship game, with assists by linemates Jake Lyons and Matthew Venezie, right wing Andrew Fauver unleashed a no-angle top shelf snipe from the far corner in the third period to net the Game Winning Goal. After a quick rebuttal by the Bruins to pull within one goal, a strong team defense, led by goalie tandem Anthony Palermo and Gabe Hernandez all season, shut the door on any comeback hopes and sealed the championship victory.

12U B Silver

The 12U B Silver team was the grand champion in the Philly Liberty Cup this past weekend (1/18-1/20). Their teamwork and determination led them to a championship victory and they are proud to represent MYHA on the road with back to back tournament first place wins.