Photo Credit: Carolina Premier Hockey

Hear from Program Director Jeff Holdenrid on another impactful week for Carolina Premier Hockey and get a sense of what the week ahead looks like.

“Tier 1 Recap

15UAAA

15U AAA had a great weekend at the Beast Fall Classic in Boston. An early Saturday game against the Long Island Royals saw CPH start out the weekend slow with a 4-2 loss. Matching up against the East Coast Militia in an afternoon match would once again provide a very good learning lesson. The best half the team had played all year, they went into the 3rd period with a 3-1 lead. A couple of penalties would provide the Militia with enough momentum to comeback and give CPH a 4-3 loss. Sunday would provide another opportunity for the 15U AAA team to take another step forward. Games against the Red Bank Generals and the Worcester Jr. Railers would provide great competition.  Learning from their mistakes a day earlier, the team would stay disciplined, compete for a full game, and capitalize on all opportunities and finish the day with 2 wins. A very encouraging weekend for the team again, happy with the 2-2 finish on the weekend, but also realize that the team very well could have finished the weekend 4-0. Caputo scored his 1st goal of the season and once again our hard working goalies continue to keep us in the games all weekend!

12UAAA

The CPH 12U AAA team began its 2023-24 season this weekend playing in the NAR Southeast Kickoff Classic in Atlanta. Led by new head coach Justin Fisher and assistant Nate Miles, the team had a competitive 5 game weekend that offered a look into good things to come as they grow together as a team. 

They started off on Friday against a seasoned Jr Preds AAA squad where they got off to a slow start but then stabilized with players learning their lines and playing an even game through the final two periods. The Jr Preds would prevail.

Game 2 on Friday against the Texas Tigers saw a much tighter affair that featured outstanding goaltending on both sides that resulted in a tight thriller. Kaiden Auch played like the veteran he is by keeping CPH in the game despite being outshot by 4 to 1 margin. The Tigers held a 2-1 edge heading into the third but added insurance early on before a quick response on a goal by Blake Cruthers, assisted from Liam Burns and Tenley McAuliffe made it 3-2. A back and forth affair would ensue with both goaltenders making amazing saves to keep it a one goal game. The Tigers would add an empty netter later to finish with a 4-2 win. CPH had certainly grown from Game 1 to Game 2. The Tigers would go on to win the whole tournament.

Game 3 Saturday morning featured a match up with the Cincinnati Jr Cyclones, who had tied the Tigers on Friday. After a scoreless first period, the Cyclones got an early goal and then one with 1:21 left in the period to take a 2-0 lead. CPH responded with 2 quick goals in the last minute from Victor Sweeny and Blake Cruthers to send it even heading into the third. An early penalty sent the Cyclones to the power play where they were able to tally one 45 seconds in. They added another 2 minutes later to make it 4-2. Despite many chances by the CPH team, they were unable to get through solid goaltending from the Cyclones, who added an empty netter to win 5-2. 

Game 4 on Saturday afternoon finished out the Round Robin format with a matchup against the Carolina Rage. It was a tight, defensive affair with the Rage holding a 2-1 lead heading into the third. They added an empty netter late and handed CPH a 3-1 loss.

Game 5 on Sunday morning was a rematch with the Rage. It was yet another game of tight defense and excellent goaltending from both clubs. Heading into the 3rd tied at 1, CPH bore down defensively awaiting an opportunity to take their first lead of the season. With 4:31remaining, George Evfarestov was able to chip one in off a beautiful feed from Stone Hovey. Solid defense and goaltending closed out a 2-1 win for CPH and finished the weekend with a victory. 

Blake Cruthers and Victor Sweeny each had 3 goals on the weekend and Tenley McAuliffe and Stone Hovey each had 2 points. 

Next up for the 12U AAA is a trip on October 1stfor a 2-game set with the Carolina Stars followed by a trip to Dallas the next weekend for the CCM tournament. 

Tier 2 Teams:

16UAA

Sunday Vs Roanoke After coming off a great day at practice Saturday at Bojangles CPH came out buzzing in game one. An incredible first period put them up 4-1. Great performance from Will and the team. Chas Camp had four goals and our power play was looking good. Game one ended with a 6-4 win for CPH. Game two we came out flat. Not our best start but we battled back and eventually gave ourselves a chance to come back and win game 2 with a late game winner for Roanoke to win 3-2. Is a learning experience for the team that you need to play a complete game to win at this level.

14UAA

We are very pleased with the weekend play of our 14UAA team. This was their first game weekend and for half of the team it was their first experience playing full contact hockey. The team did not hold back, they stood strong and held their ground.

CPH started the scoring early with a scramble in front of the net and a goal scored by Conor Gibson. Ultimately the lead was short lived after two goals from the Dogs in the first period.  In the second period Roanoke added 2 more tallies  to make the lead 4-1. CPH Rallied with two goals of their own in the 3rd, scored by Donte Carbonaro and Jack Bannon, cutting the lead to one. Ultimately the lead would not stand as the dogs added 3 more scores to make the final score 7-3. 

CPH will continue to grow this season and the team begins to gel and gets used to the physicality of the Bantam level. 

 Game 2: CPH played a stronger, more physical game, in game two, despite the final score of 7-1. Donte Carbonaro netted another in the 7-1 loss. 

12UA

The weekend was eye opening to say the least. We played four exhibition games against an upper level team. Regardless of the score in the first 3 games the team never quit trying to compete and get better. We came together as a team more and more every game of the weekend. This clearly showed in the fourth game as we started to click on both sides of the puck, and were able to play a competitive game by only losing 3-1. Both goalies played very well this weekend stopping about 60 shots a piece. We are excited to see how the season progresses and where this team will go next. Trust the process and learn from the experiences. 

10UA

The 10UA team opened their season dropping two games to Columbia. Despite the Columbia team being made up of mostly second year players, CPH played them tough and made huge steps forward as the games progressed. It was a great introduction for many players to the world of travel hockey. 

Coming up this next weekend we have four teams battling for victories. Time for some CHL games. 

12UA is in Wilmington

12UAA is in Winston Salem

14UA is in Raleigh

16UAA is in Columbia”