No less than 84 shots were recorded in the NCDC Best of the Best All-Star Game, featuring the top players between birth years 2002 and 2004 in the NCDC, as voted upon by the league’s coaches. They got together for the annual All-Star event on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at Foxboro (Mass.) Sports Center, home of the South Shore Kings.
It started out not far off the earlier Young Guns game, which was a 1-0 defensive battle in its first 40 minutes. The Best of the Best game saw a 1-1 deadlock after 20 minutes off goals – the first Team National goal by the Jersey Hitmen’s Michael DiPietra (assisted by Hitmen teammate Tyler McNeil), and a Team American goal by the Twin City Thunder’s Trace Norwell. That was assisted by the Boston Advantage’s Jacob Bigras and the Junior Bruins’ Easton Ryan.
Team American – featuring North Division talent – broke the deadlock when the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs’ Zander Lizotte ripped a shot off an assist by Luke Panchisin (Boston Advantage) and Nicholas Pomerleau (Twin City Thunder).
The South Shore Kings’ Bobby Landry got his first of two in that period at 9:05, assisted by Kings teammates Jack Hillier and Ben Jenkinson. He also scored at 19:41, assisted by Hillier and Pomerleau.
In between those Landry goals was the first and only Team National goal of the second – scored by Army recruit and Rockets Hockey Club forward Barron Woodring, assisted by his teammate (and the NCDC’s leading scorer) Caden Cranston at 19:02, just 39 seconds before Landry’s second.
The third picked up with a 4-2 score and featured five more goals, with DiPietra scoring his second at 9:29 from McNeil and the P.A.L. Jr. Islanders’ Luca Leighton.
The Advantage’s Panchisin then scored two in 16 seconds at 12:23 and 12:39, both assisted by Bigras – and the first one also assisted by Norwell.
A little less than six minutes later, Landry registered his hat trick goal, an empty-netter assisted by Jenkinson and Hillier again at 18:25.
Exactly one minute later, Woodring got his second goal assisted by the P.A.L.’s Jack Hewitt.
The USPHL congratulates and thanks all the NCDC All-Stars for the 2022-23 season!
