Weekend Wrap Feb. 20-22: Pacific Girls Nationals Berths Decided, Northwood Wins PHC Title & CSSHL Prep Teams Showcased
While a handful of berths in Tier 1 and 2 USA Hockey National Championships were determined last fall, the 2026 portion of the journey began the weekend of February 20-22 with the Pacific District Girls Tournament in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Road to Nationals really begins in the fall and lasts all the way through the USA Hockey and Hockey Canada national tournaments in the spring, but now it’s starting to feel al little more real with remaining District Tournament play underway in the United States. Some USA Boys and Girls Tier 1 USA Hockey National Championship berths were decided at state and district tournaments in hockey hotbeds like Minnesota, Massachusetts and New England in October and November, but the majority of Nationals participants are determined between now and late March.
The weekend of Feb. 20-22 brought us our first USA District Tournament of 2026 as Tier 1 Girls teams from the West Coast traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, for the Pacific District Tournament. The Pacific District Tier 1 Youth (Boys) Tournament is scheduled to be played in San Jose, Calif., Feb. 26 through March 1.
This year’s Tier 1 and 2 USA Hockey National Championships run from March 25-29 at various locations around the country.
In addition, USA Hockey High School National Championships are scheduled for March 18-22 in Plymouth, Minn. The High School National Championships feature four divisions – Divisions IA, 2A, 3A and Girls.
USA Hockey National Championships are held in the following divisions:
Youth Tier 1: 13O, 14U, 15O, 16U, 18U
Girls Tier 1: 14U, 16U, 19U
Youth Tier 2: 14U, 16U, 18U
Girls Tier 2: 14U, 16U, 19U
CLICK HERE for a listing of USA Hockey National Championship dates and locations.
In addition to the Girls Tier 1 tournament action in the Pacific District, the weekend of Feb. 20-22 brought us the playoffs for one of the top Tier 1 leagues in North America as some of the continent’s best Boys 18U Tier 1 and Prep teams gathered at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Minnesota for the Prep Hockey Conference Playoffs.
Out in Western Canada, another of North America’s top youth leagues, the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL), held a late-season showcase weekend with some of Western Canada’s top school-based programs sending teams to various cities to compete in showcases. There were showcases for CSSHL Girls and Boys Prep U18 teams as well as Boys Prep events for U17 and U15 league members.
Pacific District Girls Tournament Info
Including teams from California, Alaska, Washington and Nevada, the Pacific District Tier 1 Girls Tournament began Friday, Feb. 20, and ran through Sunday, Feb. 22.
Games were played at the Kelley Create Ice Center and Ben Boeke Arena in Anchorage, Alaska.
CLICK HERE for the links to all Pacific District Girls schedules and other info
Pacific District Tier 1 Girls 14U Team Records
Rankings as of Feb. 18
#16 LA Lions (4-0-0, 18GF, 3GA)
#32 San Jose Jr. Sharks (1-3-0; 6GF, 17GA)
#36 Team Alaska (1-2-0; 3GF, 5GA)
#55 Sno-King Jr. Thunderbirds (1-2-0; 3GF, 5GA)
14U Championship Game
LA Lions 3, San Jose Jr. Sharks 2
Campbell Smith scored with 3:49 left in the third period, with Ada Lee picking up an assist, to send the Lions to Nationals. LA took a 2-1 lead in the first period as Smith and Ella Ianiero scored after Josie Tanabe had opened the scoring for the Sharks. Ella Sawulksi scored the other San Jose goal to tie the game at 2 heading into the final frame. Winning goalie Emma Woo made 19 saves.
CLICK HERE for access to Pacific District Girls Tier 1 14U scores and standings
LA Lions advance to USA Hockey 14U Tier 1 Girls Nationals!
Pacific District Tier 1 Girls 16U Team Records
Rankings as of Feb. 18
#36 Sno-King Jr. Thunderbirds (2-2-0; 11GF, 7GA)
#40 San Jose Jr. Sharks (1-2-0; 6GF 10GA)
#41 Team Alaska (3-1-0; 10GF, 7GA)
#46 Anaheim Lady Ducks (1-2-0; 7GF, 10GA)
16U Championship Game
Team Alaska 2, Sno-King Thunderbirds 0
These two teams ended up meeting in back-to-back games on consecutive days, and Team Alaska rebounded from a 5-2 round-robin loss with a 2-0 shutout victory in the championship game to advance to USA Hockey Nationals. Madelynn Derleth stopped all 20 shots she faced to earn the shutout in goal, while Svea Dorman and Lilliana Kettenacker provided all the offensive support she needed by scoring the goals.
CLICK HERE for access to Pacific District Girls Tier 1 16U schedule, scores and standings
Team Alaska advances to USA Hockey 16U Tier 1 Girls Nationals!
Pacific District Tier 1 Girls 19U Info
Congratulations to the 36th-ranked Anaheim Lady Ducks as they will represent the Pacific District at USA Hockey Nationals!
Prep Hockey Conference Playoffs
The PHC, one of North America’s top leagues for school-based Tier 1 and Prep programs, held ts playoffs the weekend of Feb. 20-22. Games got underway Friday and ran through Sunday.
The Prep Hockey Conference was established in 2021 by six North American school-based youth hockey programs that perennially are ranked near the top at the Tier 1 18U and Prep levels. Those programs, Culver Academies (Indiana); Mount St. Charles Academy (Rhode Island); Northwood School (New York); Shattuck-St. Mary’s School (Minnesota); South Kent School (Connecticut); and St. Andrew’s College (Ontario) were the founding members and continue to compete today.
This year’s PHC Playoffs featured five teams ranked among the top 16 in their respective MHR Rankings categories, according to the Week 22 Rankings.
St. Andrews entered the weekend as the top-ranked Canadian Boys Independent Prep team, Culver was the top-ranked USA Boys Tier 1 18U national bound and overall team, while Shattuck was No. 2 in both of those categories. South Kent was ranked 11th in the U.S. overall, and Northwood iwas 16th. Mount St. Charles, the USA No. 34 Tier 1 national bound team, often contends for Tier 1 national championships at multiple age levels.
South Kent finished first in the PHC East division with an 8-6-0 record that included two overtime losses, earning a first-round bye. Culver, which also received a first-round bye, paced the PHC West at 9-5-0, with two of their setbacks also coming in overtime.
Northwood finished 12 points behind South Kent and four in front of Mount St. Charles in PHC East, while Shattuck fell short of Culver by a single point but finished four points in front of St. Andrew’s in PHC West. Those four teams plaed Friday in the quarterfinals for the right to challenge the division winners in Saturday’s Semifinals.
All games in the winners’ bracket were played at J.P. Parise on the campus of Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Fairbault, Minn. Game were streamed via SSMHockeyTV.com.
Friday, Feb. 20
Shattuck 4, Mount St. Charles 1
Northwood 1, St. Andrew's 0
Saturday, Feb. 21 Semifinals
Shattuck 5, South Kent 2
Northwood 3, Culver 2
Sunday, Feb. 22 Championship Game
Northwood 5, Shattuck 1
After knocking off top-ranked Culver Academies in the semifinals, Northwood School also was up to the task in the PHC title game the next day vs. No. 2 Shattuck-St. Mary's. After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Northwood exploded for four straight second-period goals, all in the first 10:30, to take control of the game. Charles Pigeon scored scored the last two goals of that spree and assisted on the first goal by Zack Klaich. Parker Thompson and Anton Stackow also scored for the champs, while winning goalie Owen MacLean stopped 43 shots in a heroic effort.
CSSHL Western Showcase Weekend
Another of the top school-based youth hockey leagues in North America, the CSSHL held showcase weekends for its U18 Girls, U18 Boys, U17 Boys and U15 Boys Prep teams the weekend of Feb. 20-22. There were a total of 111 games played across the four age levels at various Western Canadian venues. One game was played Thursday, Feb. 19, with all the others contested between Friday and Sunday.
All CSSHL games were streamed at FloHockey.TV.
Founded in 2009 by five like-minded Hockey Canada Sport Schools, the mission for the CSSHL always has been to establish a league designed specifically for elite level student-athletes, providing them with an opportunity to increase their skills on and off the ice, a high level of competition and exposure.
The inaugural 2009-10 season featured five sport schools and eight total teams competing in two divisions. Since then, the CSSHL has grown to include 38 sport schools and 129 teams competing in eight different divisions.
CSSHL U18 Girls Prep Showcase
The U18 Girls weekend featured four teams ranked among Canada’s top 20 in the U22 Tier 1 category for Week 22, and six of the participants were in the top 30.
The U18 Girls showcase was played at the Hockey for All Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
CSSHL U18 Girls Top Team Records
#9 Rink Hockey Academy Kelowna (2-1-0; 10GF, 8GA)
#10 OHA Edmonton (1-2-0; 13GF, 7GA)
#15 Delta Green (3-0-0; 19GF, 7GA)
#20 South Alberta Hockey Academy (2-1-0; 10 GF, 5 GA)
#28 Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg (1-2-0; 10GF, 22GA)
#30 Calgary Edge School (3-0-0; 11GF, 3GA)
CLICK HERE for complete U18 Girls results
CSSHL U18 Boys Prep Showcase
In the CSSHL U18 Boys Prep event there were four of Western Canada’s Week 22 top 10 teams and nine of the top 20. Games were played at the Calgary Edge School’s Kyle Stuart Memorial and Alumni arenas.
CSSHL U18 Boys Top Team Records
#3 Northern Albert Xtreme (2-1-0; 14GF, 13GA)
#5 Rink Hockey Academy Kelowna (0-2-0; 3GF, 5GA)
#7 Calgary Edge School (3-0-0; 11GF, 4GA)
#9 Calgary International Hockey Academy (2-1-0; 13GF, 11GA)
#11 South Alberta Hockey Academy (2-1-0; 9GF, 7GA)
#13 OHA Edmonton (2-1-0; 10GF, 10GA)
#17 Delta Hockey Academy (3-0-0; 22GF, 9GA)
#18 Burnaby Winter Club Academy (1-2-0; 11GF, 13GA)
#20 Okanagan Hockey Academy B.C. (1-2-0; 11GF, 11GA)
CLICK HERE for complete U18 Boys results
CSSHL U17 Boys Prep Showcase
The U17 CSSHL Boys Prep event featured seven teams ranked among the MHR Week 22 Western Canada top 10. There were 13 participating teams ranked in the top 22.
Games were played at River Cree Twin Rinks in Enoch, Alberta.
CSSHL U17 Boys Top Team Records
#1 Delta Hockey Academy (3-0-0; 11GF, 7GA)
#3 Okanagan Hockey Academy B.C. (2-1-0; 9GF, 8GA)
#4 Calgary Edge School (1-2-0; 10GF, 13GA)
#5 Calgary International Hockey Academy (0-3-0; 7GF, 14GA)
#6 Southern Alberta Hockey Academy (2-1-0; 14GF, 10GA)
#7 Rink Hockey Academy Kelowna (3-0-0; 17GF, 8GA)
#10 Yale Hockey Academy (1-2-0; 10 GF, 14GA)
#12 Prairie Hockey Academy (1-2-0; 12GF, 12GA)
#13 Northern Alberta Xtreme (1-2-0; 11GF, 13GA)
#16 Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg (2-1-0; 11GF, 7GA)
#19 St. George’s School B.C. (2-1-0; 11GF, 12GA)
#21 Burnaby Winter Club Academy (3-0-0; 20GF, 7GA)
#22 OHA Edmonton (1-2-0; 12GF, 13GA)
CLICK HERE for complete U17 Boys results
CSSHL U15 Boys Prep Showcase
The CSSHL U15 Boys Prep Division was stacked. Nine of Western Canada’s top 10 teams, according to the MHR Week 22 rankings, and 10 of the top 12 competed.
Games were played at Summit Centre in Abbotsford, B.C.
CSSHL U15 Boys Top Team Records
#1 Northern Alberta Xtreme (1-2-0; 13GF, 12GA)
#2 OHA Edmonton (2-1-0; 15GF, 14GA)
#3 Yale Hockey Academy (3-0-0; 17GF, 7GA)
#4 Calgary International Hockey Academy (1-2-0; 7GF, 16GA)
#5 Delta Hockey Academy (3-0-0; 18GF, 9GA)
#6 Calgary Edge School (3-0-0; 18GF, 7GA)
#8 Burnaby Winter Club Academy (0-3-0; 9GF, 18GA)
#9 Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg (2-1-0; 20GF, 9GA)
#10 South Alberta Hockey Academy (2-1-0; 17GF, 8GA)
#12 St. George’s School B.C. (2-1-0; 10GF, 8GA)
CLICK HERE for complete 15U Boys results
