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The AGHF is thrilled to announce the upcoming installment in the Federation Educational Series: “Apex: Academic Success for Athletes”.

APEX Learning Virtual School works on improving your GPA, taking courses to get ahead of your academic success, challenging yourself with classes that interest you, and giving you the flexibility of balancing your academics with your athletics. APEX is a great way to set yourself apart from other students as you look to continue your athletic and academic careers in college!

The AGHF is working with the APEX to invite all players and their families to an exclusive webinar presentation. The presentation will cover opportunities for online school and how you can take advantage of getting ahead in academics while pursuing your athletic career.

Apex Learning Virtual School: Academic Success for Athletes

Date: Tuesday, February 6th

Time: 6:00 pm EST

Register: Click Here

The Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation (AGHF) is proud to announce that Tri-City Eagles (Blue) goaltender Abby Tanner has committed to play NCAA Division 3 hockey at Keene State College. Tanner, with an impressive record this season, is set to bring her skills to the Keene State Owls’ inaugural season of women’s hockey.

Throughout the AGHF season, Abby Tanner has showcased her exceptional goaltending abilities, amassing a noteworthy 15-5-2 record. Her remarkable performances include a stellar 1.39 Goals Against Average (GAA) and an impressive .945 Save Percentage (SV%). Tanner has been a key player in guiding the Tri-City Eagles to success, recording seven shutouts in the process.

Tanner’s commitment to Keene State College marks a significant milestone in her hockey journey. Keene State, in launching its first women’s hockey program, has secured a promising talent in Tanner. Her experience and proficiency between the pipes will undoubtedly contribute to the Owls’ competitiveness in their inaugural season.

The goaltender’s journey to NCAA Division 3 hockey is a testament to her dedication, hard work, and skill development within the AGHF. Tanner’s ability to maintain a high level of performance and composure in the net has not only garnered attention within her league but has also earned her the opportunity to play at the collegiate level.

As Abby Tanner looks forward to joining Keene State College for the upcoming season, the anticipation builds for the impact she will make on the ice. Her commitment to the Owls signifies not only a personal accomplishment but also a significant addition to the college’s hockey program.

Click here to see all AGHF commits and/or submit your commitment to be recognized.

Welcome back to the AGHF Player of the Week for the week ended January 14th, 2024! This weekly feature, running throughout the 2023-24 season, pays tribute to outstanding players across all divisions. Our honorees are selected from player nominations submitted by their respective coaches. You can now commemorate their achievements with customizable Player of the Week merchandise available in the league store.

14U Diamond Nominating Coach: Andy McDonald

Team: WBS Lady Knights
Player’s Name: Layla Klapak
Jersey Number: 93
Position: Defense
“Layla had an amazing weekend helping her team win a big game. Layla was on fire, worked hard and earned herself 2 goals and an assist!”

14U Platinum Nominating Coach: Todd Seymour

Team: Reston Raiders
Player’s Name: Genevieve Seymour
Jersey Number: 48
Position: Defense
“Genevieve had an outstanding hockey weekend at the Florida Rush tournament in West Palm Beach. Her defensive grit and determination were on full display whether she was protecting the house with tenacity or swiftly backchecking after a rush. Her ability to show up in high stakes games was just what the team needed, as she kicked off our scoring with two goals. Genevieve truly embodied a “leave it all on the ice” attitude, as she gave every ounce of effort and passion with her play.”

16U Diamond Nominating Coach: Chloe Glass

Team: York Devils
Player’s Name: Maya Felix
Jersey Number: 61
Position: Defense
“Maya contributed in all aspects this weekend, earning her team 5 points and a shut down performance on defense.”

19U Diamond Nominating Coach: Grace Potash

Team: NJ Bandits
Player’s Name: Annabella Bellin
Jersey Number: 46
Position: Defense
“Bella played very well all weekend and scored a great goal off a rebound.”

Honorable Mentions:

Teagan Josef	CT Ice Cats	14U Platinum	6	Forward
Meryl Lawson	NJ Bandits	14U Diamond	5	Forward
Francesca Lazzaro	ptl	14U Platinum	24	Forward
Aerin Bruno	NJ ROCKETS RED	19U Diamond	16	Forward

For the week ending on January 14th, the Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation rankings are in. KRACH is a team’s win/loss ratio multiplied by strength of schedule. You can view all rankings on the AGHF KRACH Page here.

The teams that are in first in each division are Princeton Tiger Lilies (10U), Saugerties Fillies (12U), MYHA Blue (14U Diamond), Reston Raiders (14U Platinum), Princeton Tiger Lilies Black (16U Diamond), Maryland Jr. Black Bears (16U Platinum), NJ Bandits (19U Diamond), and PHC Belles (19U Platinum).

Welcome back to the AGHF Player of the Week for the week ended January 7th, 2024! This weekly feature, running throughout the 2023-24 season, pays tribute to outstanding players across all divisions. Our honorees are selected from player nominations submitted by their respective coaches. You can now commemorate their achievements with customizable Player of the Week merchandise available in the league store.

14U Diamond Nominating Coach: Kyle Knopp

Team: CT Polar Bears
Player’s Name: Lexie Savage
Jersey Number: 8
Position: Forward
“After tallying the lone goal in a tough 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Bandits on Saturday, Lexie scored two more on Sunday in a thrilling 3-2 victory over Mid Fairfield. Her first of the game was a deflection off a shot from the point on the power play and the second was a bar-down game-winning finish with 0:01 left on the clock.”

16U Diamond Nominating Coach: Tatiana Shatalova

Team: PTL (Black)
Player’s Name: Isabel Bright
Jersey Number: 27
Position: Forward
“She is thirsty for win, always. Working hard every game and pretty smart player with awesome skills.”

19U Diamond Nominating Coach: Grace Potash

Team: NJ Bandits
Player’s Name: Maeve McNulty
Jersey Number: 4
Position: Forward
“Maeve scored the game winning goal in the first game against the Tri City Eagles with 13.6 seconds left in the game.”

Honorable Mentions:

Lucy Jorjani	14U Diamond	STJ	20	Forward
Samantha Lui	14U Diamond	PTL Black	7	Forward

For the week ending on January 7th, the Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation rankings are in. KRACH is a team’s win/loss ratio multiplied by strength of schedule. You can view all rankings on the AGHF KRACH Page here.

The “spread” has no place in youth hockey

Black Bear Sports Group recently started the Hockey Power Rankings (“HPR”) as an alternative to MyHockeyRankings (“MHR”). MyHockeyRankings has been the only ranking source in youth hockey for many years and originally was used to help families schedule competitive games. Unfortunately, as its power grew, people and organizations have weaponized the use of MHR. Many teams refuse to play scheduled games for fear it will decrease their ranking. Many teams won’t pull a goalie in a close game for fear of giving up an empty net goal which will harm their rankings. many organizations have figured out that playing a small bubble of teams/games protects their strength of schedule which, given that losses do not matter in MHR, artificially increases their ranking. Ultimately this is particularly important for national bound teams as USA Hockey and their affiliates are now using MHR for qualification for district and national at-large selections.

The primary problem with MHR is that its system creates a “rating” for teams that sadly are not based on wins. The higher the rating, the higher the ranking. To simplify things, the rating is based on strength of schedule and goal differentials. The rating difference between teams represents the projected score differential (the “spread”) between teams when they play. If you beat that spread, regardless of winning or losing, your ranking rises. If you do not beat the spread, your rating falls – hence the problem with pulling the goalie and giving up an empty net goal – it could damage your spread if the spread is one goal. Moreover, MHR will not share how the rating is calculated in any fashion, leaving people to wonder if teams start the season equally or if there is a carryover from the previous season. The lack of transparency from MHR makes their rating/rankings even more powerful and dangerous.

The Hockey Power Rankings is based on KRACH – the same formula used by College Hockey Power Rankings systems, one of the rankings used by NCAA Division 1 College Hockey. HPR uses wins and strength of schedule – goal differential is not relevant. We are not trying to displace MHR; instead, we are trying to give alternatives for USA Hockey, coaches and families to make decisions. We believe that teams should not be forced to turn down games due to fear of the “spread.” We hope the HPR allows teams to play more local games, limit travel, and reduce the overall costs of playing the game.

Finally, Black Bear is the largest customer of GameSheet, the electronic scoring system that, as a result of Black Bear adopting it two years ago, has now become the national standard. Black Bear asked GameSheet to provide HPR electronic access to the games that GameSheet produces, similar to the access that MHR has to ensure accuracy of posted scores. GameSheet has some form of agreement with MHR that precludes anyone else from accessing this data. Black Bear asked that MHR allow HPR access to the GameSheet data and MHR refused. Black Bear responded that if MHR will not give access to its data, then MHR could not have access to Black Bear’s data. It is a shame that MHR is acting this way – everyone is suffering because of their decisions. Black Bear stands willing to share access to its data if MHR changes their mind.

In the meantime, we have always believed that choices are better. If people do not like the HPR, they will not come to the site. If they do, we believe youth hockey will be better off.

Welcome back to the AGHF Player of the Week for the week ended December 17th, 2023! This weekly feature, running throughout the 2023-24 season, pays tribute to outstanding players across all divisions. Our honorees are selected from player nominations submitted by their respective coaches. You can now commemorate their achievements with customizable Player of the Week merchandise available in the league store.

12U Nominating Coach: Stephen Gerke

Team: The St. James
Player’s Name: Payton Blaine
Jersey Number: 59
Position: Forward
“Payton is the ultimate team player- she does whatever she can to help the team win whether it helps her individually or not. Her progression throughout the year has been rapid due to her dedication and attention to detail. Payton helped the team to a 3-0-0 weekend tallying 3 goals and 3 assists in those 3 games.”

14U Diamond Nominating Coach: Keith Audit

Team: Jr. Flyers
Player’s Name: Kaitlyn Ding
Jersey Number: 12
Position: Forward
“In 2 wins this weekend (combined score 5-0), Kaitlyn either scored or assisted on all 5 goals. She is a play-driver and difference-maker and has really come into her own over the last few months.”

16U Diamond Nominating Coach: Katie Smith

Team: Jr. Flyers
Player’s Name: Lena Sturz
Jersey Number: 81
Position: Forward
“Lena had a great aggressive forecheck all game and kicked off the scoring with a breakaway top shelf goal.”

19U Diamond Nominating Coach: Taylor Borrelli

Team: York Lady Devils
Player’s Name: Amber Meluzio
Jersey Number: 53
Position: Defense
“Amber earned her first hat trick of the season and helped led her team to a win against Lehigh Valley.”

19U Platinum Nominating Coach: John Sparks

Team: NJ Rockets
Player’s Name: Julia Marano
Jersey Number: 19
Position: Defense
“Consistently excellent defense as well as offense!”

Honorable Mentions:

Aubrianna Jacobus	NJ Bandits 12A	12U
Lorelei Poulsen	NJ Bandits 12A	12U
Fallon Conway	PTL U12 Elite	12U
Magnolia Marcus	Stateline Hawks	14U Diamond
Emma Hlinka	PTL Orange	14U Diamond
Meredith Swavely	Jr Flyers 14U AA Ettore	14U Diamond
Kylie Miller	PTL Black	14U Diamond
Catalina Campos	WBS Lady Knights	14U Diamond
Emma Hiles	York Devils	16U Diamond
Abigael Gallagher	PTL Black	16U Diamond
Abigael Gallagher	PTL Black	16U Diamond
Lily Flynn	PTL Orange	16U Diamond

For the week ending on December 17th, the Atlantic Girls Hockey Federation rankings are in. KRACH is a team’s win/loss ratio multiplied by strength of schedule. You can view all rankings on the AGHF KRACH Page here.

Welcome back to the AGHF Player of the Week for the week ended December 10th, 2023! This weekly feature, running throughout the 2023-24 season, pays tribute to outstanding players across all divisions. Our honorees are selected from player nominations submitted by their respective coaches. You can now commemorate their achievements with customizable Player of the Week merchandise available in the league store.

12U Nominating Coach: DJ Matthews

Team: Saugerties Fillies
Player’s Name: Olivia Pavloudakis
Jersey Number: 5
Position: Forward
“Liv played her best game I’ve ever seen her play. With some girls out she played on the top unit. She assisted and scored on two early goals in the first game to help pace the Fillies to a game 1 victory. She assisted on the line goal in our game 2 tie. Great job Liv!”

14U Diamond Nominating Coach: James Pierson

Team: LVPY
Player’s Name: Elia Kafel
Jersey Number: 62
Position: Defense
“Our team was short this past weekend and Elia was 1 of the 3 defense in the lineup. She stepped up in a huge way. Elia played both of the ends of the ice very well and contributed to the goal scored with a great shot from the point. Elia has been improving week over and week and has quickly become a top end player on our team.”

14U Platinum Nominating Coach: Lorincz

Team: Princeton Tiger Lilies
Player’s Name: Sofia Calandra
Jersey Number: 5
Position: Forward
“Sofia was i high gear all weekend 6 point congratulations”

16U Diamond Nominating Coach: Rebecca Morse

Team: Princeton Tiger Lilies
Player’s Name: Pelaja Jensen
Jersey Number: 55
Position: Defense
“Polly played a strong defensive game this weekend, against a top divisional opponent that transitioned the puck quickly and worked hard/smart to get to the net. This type of game was right in her wheelhouse as someone who embraces a challenge and thrives in a fast-paced environment. She maintained good gaps, battled hard in the dirty areas to end plays quickly, and often started our breakout with a crisp first pass. Perhaps most impactful was her physical play, especially tying up and boxing out in front of our net to allow our goalies to do their job.”

19U Diamond Nominating Coach: Grace Potash

Team: NJ Bandits
Player’s Name: Grace Potash
Jersey Number: 12
Position: Forward

Honorable Mentions:

Ari Liu	12U	Saugerties Fillies	6	Goalie
Teagan Carey	12U	WBS Lady Knights	34	Goalie
Mackenzie Miller	12U	PTL U12 Elite	19	Defense
Lexi Davar	14U Diamond	PTL Orange	13	Forward
Laci Nelson	19U Diamond	Lady Devils	5	Defense