Monday, Minnesota Hockey announced the top 54 players to be picked to attend the next phase of the HP-16/17 Program; a three day evaluation where the “Final 54” HP-16 players and the “Final 54” HP-17 players will be evaluated with the top 16-25 players will be selected to attend USA Hockey National Select 16/17 Camps.  These camps are 7 day residence camps held at different locations across the United States as determined by USA Hockey each year. The camps are operated by USA Hockey, coached by the top college and junior coaches from across the country and the teams formed at the camps are comprised of players from all over the United States.

If a reader has been following YHH coverage; then those chosen have shown up in the game stories.

All the “juggernaut” players on the Section 6 team that finished second in the Festival last weekend made the Final 54 (Chase Jungels and Mark Kaske who play for Benilde-St. Margeret’s; Matt Freytag, William Duma, and Max Zimmer who play for Wayzata; and Brandon Bissett/St. Cloud Apollo and William Garin/Holy Family).  Both Section 6 goalies, Jens Vaughan Ahrens and Jacob Berger made the Final 54 along with defensemen, Ben Newhouse/Benilde-St. Margeret’s.  Section 6 ended up with 10 players on the Final 54.

Consolation Champions Section 8 tied Section 6 in the number of players selected also placing 10 in the Final 54.  The White team players selected included seven forwards.  Tanner Tweten, a forward from East Grand Forks, was no surprise.  Tweten was one of the Green Wave kids at the Peewee A State tourney in New Hope a few years ago and has become a strong, tough, wing and was one of the best players at last weekend’s Festival.  The other six forwards joining Tweten from Section 8 on the Final 54 are Jon Richards/Detroit Lakes, Ethan Johnson/Thief River Falls, Kobe Roth/Warroad, Jared Bethune/Warroad, Douglas Larson/Crookston, and Jacob Leitner Bemidji.  Two defensemen, Alex Mehnert/Moorhead and Tye Ausmus/East Grand Forks and goalie Grant Tharaldson/Bemidji made the Final 54 from the Section 8 team.  Ausmus also made the trip to New Hope as a peewee for the Green Wave.

Section 2, the Festival’s third place finisher, placed nine players in the Final 54.  Four of the six Section 2 defense men (Alex Robbel/Jefferson, Ryan Zuhlsdorf/Edina, Jack Ahcan/Burnsville, and Sam Fuss/Edina) will play again at the PIC this weekend.  Ahcan, Robbel and Brock Boeser, a Section 2 forward from Burnsville are rostered on the Blue team for this weekend’s evaluation.  Boeser was no surprise.  They combined to play some outstanding hockey.  Zuhlsdorf is stronger this year and was starting to roll as the Festival ended.  If Ahcan, Robbel, Boeser, and Zuhlsdorf play like they did last weekend at the PIC, the Blue will be a fun team to watch.

Three Section 2 forwards (Casey Dornbach/Edina, John Ferguson/Blake, and Chase Ellingson/Breck) made the Final 54.  Goalie Conor Klaers/St. Louis Park is the ninth Section 2 player to make the team.  Klaers was also no surprise.  He had a good Festival.

Section 4, the Festival’s consolation runner up, placed seven players in the Final 54.  Three defensemen (Riley McCann/Roseville, Nick Heid/Spring Lake Park, and Jason Krych/Totino-Grace) made the team.  Heid is no surprise; he has a strong presence on the ice and can control the flow of the game.  Three Section 4 forwards that made the team are Dylan McDonald, Christiano Versich, and Peter Tufto.  All three will be skating for St. Thomas Academy next year.  Jared Nystrom/Spring Lake Park will join team mate Nick Heid on the Final 54. Nystrom is on the Blue team roster this weekend; Heid is on the White team.  Nystrom will open play against Heid’s White team on Saturday.

Festival Champions, Section 1, placed seven players on the team; five are from the Shattuck U16 AAA team (Collin Saccoman, Jordan Klehr, Lawrence Jungwirth, Rem Pitlick, and goalie Evan Robert).  Nick Swaney/Lakeville South and Tyler Jutting/Mankato West also made the Final 54 from Section 1.  The five SSM players are divided equally among the three HP-16 teams for this weekend evaluation (as are the juggernaut players from Section 6).  Jutting and Klehr had a great championship game against Section 6 and are no surprise.

Section 3 placed four players on the Final 54.  Derek Hammer is no surprised.  He has tremendous speed and like Mark Kaske has grown and added strength to his game.  Toby Sengvongxay/Luverne made the Final 54 also.  Toby played a solid Festival at defense for Section 3.  Two Eastview High School players made the final 54; goalie Zach Driscoll who started for the Eastview’s Class AA State Tourney last March and Keith Muehlbauer, a strong defenseman that is improving steadily in his game.

Section 5 placed forwards David Brumm/Maple Grove and Connor Lovick/Centennial in the Final 54.  Brumm is a goal scorer and has that “knack” to be in the right place around the net at the right time.   Wyatt Aamodt, defenseman from Hermantown, is another goal scorer.  His trailing backhand goal from the top of the crease at the Festival was so quick that it is a blur in the memory of most fans who saw it go into the net.  The fourth player from Section 5 is Sam Franta/Maple Grove.

Section 7 had three players in the Final 54 (Nathan Sepp/Duluth Marshall, Koby Bender/Cloquet, and Jonah Bischoff/Grand Rapids).  Bender is another goal scorer.

With the three teams (Red, White and Blue) all have players scattered from different sections, the HP-16 games at the PIC this week should be interesting, but if one has to pick a team that should do well, it is the Red team.  They have a nice set of defensemen that combine steady play with some “gamblers” and a combination of speedy center-type forwards and strong wings,especially Tweten.