The Los Angeles Jr. Kings rallied from a two-goal deficit to take home the Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 15O National Championship on April 3 at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne, N.J., with a 3-2 overtime victory over Shattuck-St. Mary’s.

This marks the first-ever 15O national championship for the LA Jr. Kings, dating back to the debut of the 15O tournament in 2017. 

The high-octane power play of Shattuck-St. Mary’s was on full display in the first period at the 9:00 minute mark, and Shattuck capitalized 45 seconds later when Gavin Kor found Wyatt Cameron open in the slot. Cameron rifled a one-timer for his third goal of the tournament.

At 10:30, Shattuck-St. Mary’s went on the man-advantage once more, and at 10:52, Kor made it a 2-0 game with helpers from Aaron Obobaifo and Cameron. 

The middle frame was highlighted by strong goaltending at both ends, with Shattuck’s netminder Garrett Glaser making 11 stops and LA’s Seid-Ali Nabiev making eight saves.

In the closing minutes of the period, the Kings went on the power play with just 2:29 remaining. With 1:30 to go, Luke Norcross was able to punch the puck in from out front and get the Kings on the board with a power-play goal off a feed from Benjamin Kevan. 

Just 1:52 into the third, the Jr. Kings’ Tyler Russell collected a pass from Garrett Russell at the point, and blasted a wrist shot that snuck through traffic past Glaser to knot the game up at two goals apiece. The remaining 15:08 of regulation remained scoreless, with both teams generating several strong chances but neither able to capitalize, and the game headed to sudden death overtime tied at 2-2. 

In overtime, Garrett Russell collected a long stretch pass from Tyler Russell, powered into the zone and fired a shot short-side into the upper left corner to win the tournament. 

The 3-2 come-from-behind, overtime victory marked the Jr. Kings’ second comeback OT victory of the tournament, as they also rallied from down two goals to win 4-3 in OT in the quarterfinals. 

Photo/Michael Carmo, Jr./USA Hockey

— Seamus Kelley/USA Hockey

(April 10, 2023)