The New Jersey Jr. Titans and the Omaha AAA Lancers won their respective Gold Divisions with undefeated 3-0 records through the round-robin. Omaha outscored their opponents 17-4 in their three games, while New Jersey outscored theirs, 10-6. New Jersey, who will be the #1 seed from the Gold A Division will face the Indiana Jr. Ice, the #2 seed from the Gold B Division. Indiana finished with a 2-1-0 record, losing to Omaha on the final day to finish as the #2 seed. Omaha, who finished as the Gold B Division’s #1 seed will face the Texas Tornado, who finished as the Gold A Division’s #2 seed. Texas finished with the same number of points as Orange County, but defeated OC on the final day, 1-0 in a shootout to earn their spot in the semi-finals against the high-powered Omaha team. The Titans were led by team veterans RJ Steer, Connor Grogan, Tommy Panico, Marcus Tomacheck and leading scorer for the weekend, Lucas Habich (4 goals, 5 points in 3 games). The Titans survived 100 penalty minutes over 3 games, a 6 man shootout in the first game against Orange county, and took apart the top team in the regular season, San Jose Sharks in game 3. In game 2, the Titans took a 3-2 lead late in the third. 25 seconds later, Texas tied the game with a tally to tie it with just 22 seconds to go. Unbelievably, Tomacheck scored immediately on the ensuing faceoff won by Connor Grogan with 17 seconds to play.
Best of luck in the Sunday Semi finals vs. the Indiana Jr. Ice
16U Semi-Final #1: New Jersey Jr. Titans vs. Indiana Jr. Ice
16U Semi-Final #2: Omaha AAA Lancers vs. Texas Tornado
Footnote: The Ice went on to defeat the Titans 4-1 scoring 2 powerplay goals early. The Ice went on to win the Championship, leaving the Titans in the Bronze Medal position. Not a bad effort for the first year in the NAPHL and certainly an effort the boys should be proud of.