South sweeps, East picks up first win in final day of NAHL Top Prospects Tournament

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. – In the second and final day of the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament, Team South and Team East emerged victorious at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

Team South opened Tuesday with a 5-4 win over Team Central, while Team East closed it out with its first win at the event, 5-1 over Team Midwest. Team South finished the event 2-0 and found the back of the net 12 times over its two games.

“Playing in this event was a ton of fun and it’s a great experience,” said Oklahoma center William Lawson-Body, who netted the game-winning goal for Team South in the morning. “We had a lot of talent and good guys on our team, and I thought we were able to put on a good showing.

“I thought our team played pretty well and we earned both wins.”

Team South jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from Lone Star center Johan Rosenquist - only to see Team Central respond with three unanswered goals.

Bismarck forward Calvin Hanson tied the game late in the first period and Team Central took a 3-1 lead early in the second thanks to goals from a pair of North Iowa Bulls. Defenseman Carter Theissen and forward Simone Dadie, who buried a beautiful 2-on-1 rush.

Owen Thomas (Corpus Christi) stopped the bleeding as the right-shot defenseman corralled a bouncing puck and fired home a wrister from the top of the slot.

Minutes later, New Mexico center Hunter Hastings slid a puck past El Paso goaltender Nolan Suggs to make it a brand new game at 3-3.

Eleven different Team South skaters found the back of the net between the two games.

“It’s an awesome experience to play in this event and there’s a lot of talent here, so it’s an honor to be selected for it,” Oklahoma defenseman Garrett Horsager said. “Coming in you’re not really sure what’s going to happen with the games and you’re playing with guys you’re playing against during the season.

“But it was fun coming together and we had some success together. It was an awesome time and it’s always better when you come away with a couple wins.”

Jordan McAlpine / The Rink Live

Austin defenseman Matthew Desiderio gave Team Central the lead back late in the second period at 4-3, only to see Team South score twice in the opening minutes of the third period.

Both goals came from Oklahoma players in Horsager and Lawson-Body.

All three Oklahoma players selected to the event found the back of the net as Brendan Williams also scored in Team South’s 7-3 win on Monday.

“It’s a great opportunity for these kids and they’ve worked so hard to earn this opportunity. And I’m so happy our guys had some success,” Oklahoma head coach and Team South assistant Garrett Roth said. “They’re all important guys for our team and I thought they represented our organization and our team extremely well this week.”

NAHL

Day one provides 'great opportunity' at 2023 NAHL Top Prospects Tournament

UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex plays host to two games, 88 players and numerous coaches and scouts at NAHL Top Prospects Tournament

February 06, 2023 09:52 PM

 · 

By  Jordan McAlpine

Team South was the only team to win both of its games in the event. Team Central and Team East both went 1-1 while Team Midwest finished the two-day tournament 0-2.

Kenai River forward Ryan Finch scored Team Midwest’s lone goal Tuesday afternoon and five different skaters lit the lamp for Team East. Forwards Henrik Hallberg, Jesse Horacek, Brad McNeil and Brayden Stannard, along with defenseman Owen Luik.

The NAHL returns to action with a full slate of games this weekend, starting with two on Thursday. Anchorage will visit Wisconsin while the Northeast Generals host the Philadelphia Rebels.

Click here to view the full NAHL schedule.