WALPOLE – The 2016 Jr. Chowder Cup came to an end on Sunday at Rodman Arena in Walpole. The four-day journey closed out with Hockey Essentials Black shutting out Mantha Springs 4-0 to claim the tourney’s top prize, the ’00 division championship.
It was a fitting end for a team that dominated throughout Sunday’s playoff round. Hockey Essentials started the day by beating up on the Green Mountain State with victories over the Northern Vermont Wildcats, 5-3, and Vermont Shamrocks, 7-0. They then moved east to knock off the NH Knights 3-1 in the semifinals
The road to the final was a longer one for Mantha Springs, all three of their contests leading up decided by only a goal, starting with their 3-2 win over Mass Edge in the opening round.
Their quarterfinal match up with the Boston Jr. Eagles could not be decided in regulation, nor overtime. A shootout needed before Mantha Springs came away with the 4-3 win.
The semifinal match up was the closest of them all, a 1-0 victory over All-American Prospects.
A class act throughout, Mantha Springs may have run out of gas by the time they got to the final contest of the tournament. Tired as they may have been, Mantha hung tight, for much of the contest a goal coming at 8:59 to give Essentials a 1-0 lead was the only goal on the board.
It was not until late Essentials began to put up any distance. Zach Egber upped the advantage to 2-0 at 26:54. There was still one more goal to be scored afterward, but an empty netter by Matt Cameron at 28:03 all but sealed the victory as it pushed the lead to 3-0. The 4-0 score coming with just 47-seconds remaining.
Credited with assists on the game’s opening and closing goals, Essentials forward Adam Robbins was selected as the 2016 Jr. Chowder Cup’s ’00 division Most Valuable Player.
Filling out the remainder of the All-Tournament team were Cameron up front, along with forwards Tyler Williams and Grant Burkhard of Mantha Springs. The backend was comprised of defensemen Hunter Skinner of Mantha Springs and Pearson Brandon of Hockey Essentials, as well as Essentials goaltender Matt Lane.
