USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP) Under-18 Team claimed the 2025 CHL USA Prospects Challenge title in super overtime on Wednesday night in Lethbridge, AB. The result capped off a series that began with a 4-2 NTDP victory in Game 1 on Tuesday night in Calgary.
Team CHL had forced the decisive “third game” after earning a 4-3 win in Game 2, but the Americans secured the championship when Victor Plante scored the winner at 5:53 of super overtime.
“In overtime we could have won it early, we had great chances, but that’s the game,” said Team CHL Head Coach and Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) General Manager and bench boss Willie Desjardins. “I’m thinking, last night and today, it’s going to come down to overtime, and anything can happen in overtime. You knew that cause I felt we’d play hard, I was hoping we would get a win, but you still had to win overtime, and in overtime – it can go either way.”
In Game 2 itself, JP Hurlbert (Kamloops Blazers / WHL), Caleb Malhotra (Brantford Bulldogs / OHL), Alessandro Di Iorio (Sarnia Sting / OHL) and Xavier Villeneuve (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada / QMJHL) scored for Team CHL, while Zach Jovanovski (Guelph Storm / OHL) stopped 23 shots. For the NTDP, AJ Garcia, Plante and Jamie Glance found the back of the net as Luke Carrithers made 34 saves.
Villeneuve provided the late-game heroics to force super overtime, re-directing Carson Carels’ (Prince George Cougars / WHL) point shot on the power play with 3:11 remaining to give Team CHL a 4-3 victory in regulation.
The game opened with a bang as Team CHL responded quickly after Tuesday’s defeat. Just 34 seconds in, Hurlbert unleashed a one-timer off a cross-ice feed from Daxon Rudolph (Prince Albert Raiders / WHL) to give the hosts their first lead of the series.
The Americans answered with a pair of goals 1:55 apart to flip the script. Garcia scored from the low slot at 4:36 before Plante capitalized on a Team CHL turnover in their own zone to make it 2–1 for the NTDP.
Glance’s second goal in as many nights extended the lead to 3–1 on a 5-on-3 power play just 67 seconds into the second period, but Team CHL’s captain quickly swung momentum back. Malhotra sparked his team with a shorthanded breakaway marker just 37 seconds later.
Team CHL drew level with 3:29 left in the middle frame when Maddox Dagenais (Québec Remparts / QMJHL) found Di Iorio alone down low, and the Sarnia forward beat Carrithers’ high glove to make it 3–3 after 40 minutes, setting the stage for Villeneuve’s late winner in regulation and the eventual super overtime decider.
“Not too many guys get this opportunity, so (I’m) very grateful for that,” stated CHL alternate captain Daxon Rudolph. “The event itself was awesome. I mean, not the result we wanted, obviously, but I thought we battled hard and played well today. That’s kind of our whole goal, just to work harder and be better than we were yesterday, and I thought we did that and ended up coming up on top in regulation, and then the unfortunate ending.”
“[Assistant Coach] Jay McKee and all the coaches made a comment about how we are looking forward to following their careers,” added Willie Desjardins. “These guys are going to have great careers. Hopefully, they take stuff away from this tournament, because it is a step up. It’s a step up for our league.
“I think they’ll take out how hard it is, and, I think, just how important it is to win. Losing really sucks, and, you know, hopefully it bothers them so they don’t lose again.”
Last year, Team CHL captured the inaugural CHL USA Prospects Challenge in November 2024, sweeping the two-game series 2–0 after a 6–1 win in London and a dramatic 3–2 victory in Oshawa, sealed by Calgary Flames prospect Cole Reschny (Victoria Royals / WHL), who scored the game-winning goal with 72 seconds remaining in regulation against the U.S. National Under-18 Team.
In the event’s two-year history, each side has now claimed a title, with Team CHL having won the inaugural event in 2024. Across four games in the series’ history, Team CHL holds a 3-1-0 advantage.
About the CHL USA Prospects Challenge
First introduced in 2024, the CHL USA Prospects Challenge is a best-on-best, two-game series spotlighting the top NHL Draft-eligible players from the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL facing off against the U.S. National Under-18 Team. The inaugural edition, held last November in London and Oshawa, proved a major success — 16 of 22 players on Team CHL were selected in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft.
The 2025 edition, hosted by the Calgary Hitmen and Lethbridge Hurricanes, spotlighted elite NHL prospects projected to headline the 2026 NHL Draft — including Carson Carels (Prince George Cougars / WHL), Ethan Belchetz (Windsor Spitfires / OHL), and Egor Shilov (Victoriaville Tigres / QMJHL) among the 15 CHL players who earned an “A” rating (first-round candidate) on NHL Central Scouting’s Preliminary Players to Watch List. Full Team CHL roster details are linked here, with player notes and profiles accessible here.
