FOXBORO – Sunday brought a close to the 2016 Mini Chowder Cup. The day began with three trophies to be awarded, the first of which went to the CT Yankees, who claimed the 2004 division’s prize with a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers Sunday morning at Foxboro Sports Center.
With the division’s best offense (26 goals scored) and best defense (two goals allowed) through the preliminary round, the Yankees continued rolling into the finals with an 8-0 blanking of Top Shelf in Sunday morning’s semifinal. Equally as impressive was the Rangers’ – who had the division’s second best offense and defense – 7-2 semifinal victory over the Boston Jr. Blues.
Both teams had been accustomed to higher scoring games in the tournament, but scoring came at a premium as the two top teams squared off. The Rangers started strong, Ryan Friedman making it 1-0 at 8:11, but it was the Yankees who finished.
Nicholas Capasso – the game’s only multipoint scorer – led the late charge by the Yankess, first drawing the game back to even with his score at 19:35. The CT forward then sealed the 3-0 championship win with two more in the game’s final 2:36, completing his hat trick.
Capasso did the heavy lifting in the final contest, but it was teammate Andon Cerbone who went home with the 2004 division’s Most Valuable Award, handed out following the conclusion of the championship contest. Cerbone had just one assist in the final tilt, but his six points on the day (1G, 5A) were tied for third best across all three of the Mini Chowder Cup’s age divisions. His 11 points in the preliminary round (3G, 8A) were tied for fifth best of the entire tournament.
Also taking home All-Tournament honors were the Rangers’ Beanie Richter and Connor Welsh, and Yankees’ Frankie D’Ancona, tabbed as All-Tournament Forwards. Eddie Romano of the Rangers and Charlie Leddy of the Yankees were named as All-Tournament Defense, and CT’s Brendan Holahan went home as the 2004 All-Tournament Goaltender.
