As we head into the next week for Carolina Premier Hockey, hear from Jeff Holdenrid on a great start for CPH and what’s to come.

“The start of the hockey season is something special for so many people. The kids get to put on their game jerseys for the first time, the coaches get to see what the team is capable of, and the parents get to hang out with the other families and cheer their all-star on. We see social media blow up with pictures and stories, losses and victories, the start of the season’s adventures.

 

What better way to start the story, then with a big brother tunnel: The USPHL Charlotte Rush showed up in force at Pineville Icehouse and created a tunnel from the locker room to the ice for the CPH 10UAA team. Them and the 12UAA played at home while the 15UAAA, 16UAA, and 14UA were on the road.  

 

Let’s jump into the recap:

 

The 15U AAA have had a very encouraging start to the season. The results may not be what we are hoping for at this time, but the way the players are battling and competing every day leaves us very encouraged for the season.

We played the Jr. Preds 3 times in Nashville to kick off the season. They are a very good team and program. We played them very tough for long stretches in all 3 games. We established the way we want to play this season and when executed we were successful.

Last weekend we took part in the NAR southeast kickoff tourney in Atlanta. We played against The Jr. Preds, Jr. Canes, and Florida
Alliance. Once again, we competed with all 3 teams. We lost to the Jr.Preds and Jr. Canes, but felt we again took steps forward  and played both teams very hard. We got our first win against the Florida Alliance. A back-and-forth game, saw our players very resilient and played right to the end and secured a victory. After a slow start in the semifinal, we would lose to the eventual champions in the Jr. Preds.

 

12UAA

 It was a great start to the season for the 12uAA team. In front of a packed house at Pineville Icehouse CPH jumped out to an early lead, scoring in their first shift of the season, and never looked back. Goaltender Jacob Hinckley kept the Thunder scoreless in game 1 recording a shutout. The team outscored their opponent a combined 14-3 in the two home openers. A total team effort with 8 different goal scorers and 11 players collecting at least a point Saturday night. 

 

14UA

Team split this weekend in their first weekend of games. Opening with a win against the JR Canes 2-1. The team really played well together, their effort and determination were really impressive, and everyone there contributed. In the second game CPH came up a bit short, falling to the Jr Canes 3-2. Valiant effort over the weekend, excited to see where they go from here. 

 

10UAA

They started the season off with 2 home games at the Pineville Ice House. Results aside, there were some very good takeaways from the weekend in individual play and also team play. The 10UAA is a team that has many new faces on the roster this season and many new players that were playing full ice for the first time. The expectation is to see them take great strides this season as part of Carolina Premier Hockey.

 

16UAA

Traveling for the start of their season, off to Nashville. Who does not love a trip to this city. Playing in a 4 game showcase, CPH met up with the St Louis Sting, and Nashville Warriors, playing each team twice. It was a slow start getting shut out in game one vs the Sting. Effort was there, intensity was there, just could not find the back of the net. In game 2 against the sting the 16’s were able to score and put pressure on the Sting. A little too late with a loss in Game 2. It was great to see the team come together in the morning and start their day off with a team stretch and chalk talk with Coach Mike. Game 3 was the first match up with Warriors, a great game with CPH jumping into the lead early, a hard-fought match, but ultimately ending in the third loss of the weekend. In the final match up with the Warriors, it was all CPH. Commanding the game from the first puck drop, scoring coming for a variety of players and lines. CPH takes the win 5-2 closing out their weekend.

Moving into this this coming weekend we have a lot of games in Charlotte. 10UA/12UA play at Bojangles Coliseum on Saturday, and 14UAA and 16UAA both play at Pineville IceHouse Sunday morning. If you are free CPH always welcomes a crowd to cheer them on. Also, the USPHL Charlotte Rush have their opening weekend Saturday nightat Pineville Icehouse, Elite at 4:30 and Premier at 7:15, don’t want to miss another start of a season.”