OGDEN — Ogden's Golden Spike Junior Wildcats hockey club has qualified for USA Hockey's 2010 Nationals Tier II Youth Hockey Tournament in April at Rochester, N.Y.
The Junior Wildcats, a team comprised of youths ages 18 and younger, will face state champions from Arizona, Iowa and Vermont in the early round of the national tournament, which begins April 7.
"We are very proud of our boys," said Junior Wildcats coach Jared Preston. "It takes a lot of dedication and determination for them to be in a position to represent Utah at nationals."
This marks the first time a Utah team has been invited to play in the national tournament. It is the sixth straight year the Junior Wildcats' U18 team has won the state championship.
The Junior Wildcats recently defeated Salt Lake City's Rocky Mountain Renegades twice to win the right to represent Utah in the national tourney. In the first game, center Dax Hobbs of Syracuse, the Ogden team's captain, scored a hat trick to spark the Junior Wildcats' 8-4 win. In the second game, defenseman Curtis Snowball of Ogden scored the game-tying goal with less than two minutes to play in regulation, and Hobbs scored the game-winning goal with less than 30 seconds remaining in overtime to give Ogden a dramatic 4-3 sudden-death overtime victory.
Ogden goalie Craig Peterson stopped a combined total of 69 shots in the two games, including two penalty shots.
Other team members include Brandon Barker and Shaymus Bertagnolli of Layton; Matthew Baxter of Taylorsville; Jake Checketts, Alec Laub, Bowen Taylor and Bronson Taylor of Ogden; Matthew Broman of South Weber; Daniel Cosentino, Patrick Winesett and Trevor Winesett of South Ogden; Colin Ecsedy of Kaysville; Eian Edwards of Hooper; Justin Empey of Roy; Dominic Lancaster and Nicholas Lancaster of Farr West, and Kody Rodriguez of Centerville.
USA Hockey is the governing body for ice hockey in the United States and is the same organization that selects the U.S. men's and women's Olympic hockey teams, which each earned silver medals at the Vancouver Games.