Congratulations to the 14U Girls Pens Elite team named the Champions of the November 2022 Detroit CCM World Invite 14u Tier 1 division.

Entering the Nov 11th to 13th tournament with an overall record of 20-4-1 and nationally ranked 3rd in the MHR rankings, the girls tactfully managed wins through the first 3 games of the tournament.  The teams posted wins over Milwaukee Jr Admirals (1-0), Cambridge Roadrunners (5-0), and Biggby Coffee (4-1).  

In the quarter-final game win against Lovell Academy (1-0), teams battled back and forth and traded shots on goal the entire game (SOG 17-18).  With under 4 min to go in the 3rd period, #31 Hervert silenced a cheering Lovell crowd when she rushed the puck from her own defensive zone.  Capitalizing on a Lovell attempted puck dump and line change, Hervert weaved through the field, drove the net, and sniped a wrister over the blocker of the goaltender.    

Moving through to the semi-finals the team won a very closely fought battle against 9th-ranked Team Illinois (1-0).  Midway through the 3rd period, #17 Mertens picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and drove the net to snap a wrister over the blocker side of the TI goaltender.   The team continued the attack by outshooting their opponent and holding them to only 10 shots on goal.   As the clock seconds ticked down, the team celebrated and then quickly refueled before advancing to Championship against Chicago Mission.

The team entered the Championship game with goaltenders #27 Makrogiannis and #55 Nevo maintaining the lowest goals against (1 GA) out of the 16 teams competing in the 14u tier 1 division.  The Championship game saw an explosive  Pens Elite offense net 5 goals scored by 4 different players (#64 Webster, #77 Raypholtz, #22 Whitehead, 2 - #97 Garner) with assist contributions from 5 others (#11 Relyea, #82 Kirsch, #30 McCarthy, #97 Garner, #28 Lundy).  

As the game-ending buzzer sounded, the Pens Elite 14u team defeated the 7th-ranked Chicago Mission (5-2) team and celebrated another banner win.   #17 Talia Mertens was named the Championship game MVP as sponsored by 200x85 and CCM.

Congrats to the Pens Elite 14U girls on their tournament win!