By Kevin Scott
DALLAS TX., January 29, 2019 — The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) has announced their team rosters and the schedule for the 2019 Top Prospects Hockey Tournament being held this year at their new venue, the New England Sports Village in Attleboro, Massachusetts on February 18-19, 2019.
The NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament will be played in conjunction with the North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) Top Prospect Tournament. The two-day highly-scouted event attracts many scouts including those from the junior, NCAA and National Hockey League (NHL) ranks that are expected to be in attendance.
The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) standings were frozen as of Sunday, January 20th and the teams were then seeded within their division based on win percentage. The number of players that each NA3HL team is sending to the event is based on each team’s winning percentage within their group.
There will be 120 players participating that are spread across the six divisional teams (no Selects teams this year). Each squad will play three total games during the two-day tournament and the contests will consist of (3) 17-minute periods with single ice cut in the middle of the second period. The six 20-man rosters feature 12 forwards, 6 defensemen and two goaltenders. All players considered for roster spots must have had been first nominated by their respective head coaches.
The six divisional teams for this event include the Central, Coastal, Frontier, Northeast, South, and West. The squad will be coached by the two coaches who led the division as of January 20, 2019. The coaches for the Frontier team will be Helena Bighorns head coach Bob Richards and assisting him will be Greg Sears from the Great Falls Americans. To view the full list of coaches and the schedule, please click here.
The Helena Bighorns were the top-seeded team in the Frontier Division standings (as of January 20th) and will send five players (Elliot Plourde, Darren Donovan, Nicholas Noel, Ricards Groskops, and Justin Sullivan). The four players the Great Falls Americans will be sending include Payton McSharry (Forward, 6’2”, 190 lbs., Anchorage, Alaska), Jens Juliussen (Forward, 5’9”, 170 lbs., Anchorage, Alaska), Nate Simpson (Defenseman, 5’10”, 170 lbs., Claremont, California) and Viktor Wennberg (Goaltender, 5’11”, 160 lbs., Stockholm, Sweden). The Missoula Junior Bruins, Gillette Wild, and Bozeman Ice Dogs will send three players each and the Yellowstone Quake will have two players on the roster. The Butte Cobras will not be represented this year. For a full list of the Frontier Division Roster, please click here.
Click here to view the NA3HL Press Release with rosters, coaches, and schedule and information for the 2019 Top Prospects Tournament. Fans can also follow the action live at HockeyTV and see the stats updated live on the NA3HL Scoreboard.
2019 Top Prospects Tourney Schedule: (All Times converted to Mountain Standard Time)
Monday, February 18th
7:00AM: Central Division vs. Coastal Division
8:00AM: Northeast Division vs. Frontier Division
9:00AM: West Division vs. South Division
1:45PM: Coastal Division vs. Frontier Division
3:45PM: Central Division vs. West Division
5:45PM: South Division vs. Northeast Division
Tuesday, February 19th
6:00AM: Central Division vs. Frontier Division
8:00AM: West Division vs. Northeast Division
10:00AM: South Division vs. Coastal Division
Click here to view the article on the NA3HL League Website.
Additional Media Coverage: January 30, 2019: ABC/FOX Montana (KFBB): Nine Players from Helena & Great Falls will play in 2019 Top Prospects Tournament