Detroit Red Wings

With a collegiate national champion and four-time Stanley Cup winner behind the bench, the Detroit Red Wings’ is in good hands. Fridley, Minnesota native Josh Langfeld is the head coach of the team and scored the game-winning goal in the 1998 NCAA Frozen Four championship for the Michigan Wolverines. Joining Langfeld on the bench is former Detroit Red Wing Kirk Maltby, a mainstay on the Red Wings’ famed Grind Line of the 1990s. Langfeld’s son Camden and Maltby’s son Landen are both on the team.

Previously, the Brick Red Wings have suffered close losses to several teams that will be participating in this year’s tournament, including 2-1 and 4-2 losses to Toronto Pro Hockey, 5-4 and 1-0 defeats at the hands of the Connecticut Jr. Rangers, a 4-1 loss to Manitoba Brick, and a 3-2 heartbreaker against Pennsylvania Brick. However, the boys in red also scored a 7-0 win over that same Pennsylvania Brick squad. Toronto Pro Hockey is also in this year’s Wigston Conference.  

Key Players: Jacob Marks, James Gilliam, Isaiah Pikora, Camden Langeld, Cody Sokol, Narinn Pozios, Gram and Karson Otto, Elliott Lennon.

Team Pennsylvania Brick

The top players in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia make up Team Pennsylvania, which counts both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are co-sponsors of the team and was founded in 2013.

Like all Brick clubs, Team Pennsylvania has quality coaching, led by Trevor Edwards and Mike Chiasson. Edwards has been a coach in the Detroit Honeybaked program for the past nine years, garnering four Michigan state championships, an International Silver Stick title, and the 2015 USA Hockey national crown in the 14U Division. A former member of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey’s Rimouski Oceanic, Chiasson is the Manager of Youth Hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Goalie Development Professional for the UPMC Elite organization. This will be Chiasson’s third year coaching with Team Pennsylvania. 

The group competed this year at the Future Legends Hockey Hall of Fame tournament, posting a misleading 1-3 record over four games. Two of the losses came by just one goal, with one defeat being by two goals. The team advanced to the semifinals of the North American Spring Showcase, falling to eventual champion Toronto Bulldogs.  

Key Players: Goaltenders Ryder Fetterolf and Christopher Nichols

Connecticut Jr. Rangers

Founded in 1989, the Connecticut Jr. Rangers have quickly become a premier program on the east coast in multiple age groups, and boast a pair of highly accomplished coaches behind its bench.

NHL veteran Jeff Hamilton is the head coach, and after setting the Yale University all-time scoring mark in 2001, spent time with the Islanders, Blackhawks, Hurricanes, and Maple Leafs before finishing his playing career in Europe. Helping assist Hamilton will be future NHL Hall-of-Famer Martin St. Louis, the former Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning, and New York Rangers star who totaled 391 goals and 1,033 points in over 1,100  NHL games.

This same Jr. Rangers team put on a show in the Shanahan/Warrior tournament in November, advancing all the way to the finals where they fell to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. 13 of the players on the roster skated for the Mid-Fairfield Jr. Rangers during the regular season, posting a record of 55-5-7 and finished the year ranked No. 1 in the country by MyHockeyRankings.   
The Jr. Rangers went 4-1-1 in pool play in last year’s Brick, losing to the Boston Junior Bruins 6-5 in double-overtime. 

Key Players: Joe Salandra, Mason St. Louis, goaltenders Zai Ferraro and Jacoby Weiner

Team Quebec

With pieces of Team Quebec scattered amongst teams throughout the province, the following week will be an interesting example of players gelling together quickly.

Forward Kingsley Solomon recorded seven goals and nine points for the Montreal Princes during the Montreal Meltdown two weeks ago, while Aiden Kirkwood tallied seven goals and 10 points. Jonathan Lau is no slouch offensively either, recording four goals in seven games during the Meltdown. Goaltender Oceanne Thiffault Michel posted a sparkling 4-0 record at the Meltdown with a goals-against average of 0.50 and also added a pair of shutouts.

Team Quebec also took home the title this spring at the CCHA Toronto Invitational, downing the Toronto Bulldogs 3-2 in the finals. 

Helping guide Team Quebec will be assistant coach Luca Ciampini, who won the Memorial Cup with Halifax, and head coach Alex Imbeault spent time in the AHL and in Europe.   
Competing as the Montreal Ice Storm last year, Quebec went 2-4 at the Brick.

Key Players: Aiden Kirkwood, Kingsley Solomon, Jonathan Lau, Nathan Birch, goaltender Oceanne Thiffault Michel.   

British Columbia Junior Canucks

An impressive 4-1-1 showing at the NAHC was highlighted by the Junior Canucks’ balance on offense, as four players recorded six or more points in just six games. The lone loss for the Junior Canucks came against Team Brick Alberta by a score of 7-2. The Junior Canucks also finished second in the Bauer Spring Shootout, falling to Toronto Pro Hockey.  

Always a threat in Edmonton, the Junior Canucks advanced all the way to the finals last year before losing to the Toronto Bulldogs in overtime. The team is coached by Elite Level Development founder and program director Jon Calvano, and Caleb Malhotra’s father is longtime NHL face-off specialist Manny Malhotra. 

Key Players: Mathis Preston, Liam Ruck, Jonathan Bitoni, Ryan Lin, Tyus Sparks  

Saskatchewan Jr. Pats

 The Jr. Pats boast of the NAHC’s leading goal-scorers in Cohen Harris, who racked up 10 goals and 12 points in five games in Winnipeg and should score his fair share of goals this week.

University of Regina assistant coach Dave Hnatiuk is the bench boss for the Jr. Pats. Hnatiuk played for the University of Lethbridge before skating professionally in Sweden. The extra session bit the Jr. Pats in last year’s Brick, as the team went lost twice in overtime en route to a 2-2-2 record. 

Key Players: Cohen Harris, Owen Chapman, Dayne Beuker 

Toronto Pro Hockey

The Toronto Pro Hockey Development Group was founded in 1992, and for 25 years has molded talented hockey players and fared well in both Canadian and American events, such as its 2006 group taking home the title in the 2017 North American Hockey Showcase (The Show).

The elite pipeline continues with the 2008 group, which went 7-0 and took home the title at the Bauer Spring Shootout in May, outscoring opponents 14-5 in the process. Perhaps even more impressive was Pro Hockey’s wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the tournament, where the team posted shutout victories over Conacher Elite 2008 and Team Smytty’s Skills before downing the B.C. Jr. Canucks in the finals.

High-flying forward Barron Mundy finished second in the 2017 Shanahan/Warrior tournament, posting impressive totals of nine goals and 21 points in seven games. 

Key Players: Barron Mundy, Alexander Hage, Adam Valentini, Alessandro Di Iorio