When titles are won in March and April, very few will remember what happened in September (much less January and February). But the Blades Showcase in Brooklyn Park had so many great players and match-ups, it will take a while to erase last weekend from memory. The Blades Showcase is comprised of USA Sanctioned Tier 1 programs playing four or five games. The Blades are not recognized as Tier 1, but have Tier caliber teams.

We took in games at the 14U, 15U and 16U level to see how the Minnesota players stack up against well-known programs such as Shattuck St. Mary's, Little Caesars, Chicago Mission and Team Wisconsin.

The 14U Blades beat up the competition pretty bad outscoring their five opponents by a score of 47-5. Led by Blaine's Austin Burnevik's 20 points, the Blades were only tested once in a game against Shattuck-St. Mary's on Saturday night in Blaine. 

The 15U division was "won" by Shattuck. The Sabres went 4-0 on the weekend getting two very nice wins over Little Caesars (3-0) and Chicago Mission (2-1). Both games were very tight checking and could have gone either way. Shattuck's Christian Manz was the difference against Little Caesars Saturday and on Sunday, Noah Eyre's late goal helped lift them to win over Mission.

The 16U division had its share of fireworks, too. Shattuck left the weekend undefeated going 3-0-1 including a really nice game with the Chicago Mission that ended in a 5-5 on Sunday. Isaac Howard and Arvega Hovsepyan had nine points to lead the showcase in scoring. Little Caesars beat Chicago Mission 6-4 Thursday night in a spirited affair attended by countless number of junior and college scouts.