By Kevin Scott
DALLAS, TX., January 28, 2022 — The rosters and schedule have been announced by the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) for the 2022 Top Prospects Tournament that will be held on Monday and Tuesday, February 7-8, 2022, at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, (outside of Pittsburgh) Pennsylvania. The NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins call the sports complex their practice facility.
The two-day Top Prospects Tournament (TPT), will charge admission this year (see ticket prices), and attracts many scouts including those from the NCAA, North American Hockey League (NAHL) and American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and junior hockey ranks that are expected to be in attendance.
The events will be held in cooperation with the 2022 North American Hockey League (NAHL) Top Prospects Tournament. The annual event is one of the most highly scouted events with hundreds of junior, NCAA and National Hockey League (NHL) scouts in attendance this season.
On Monday, January 10th, the NA3HL standings were frozen, and teams were seeded within their division based on their win percentage. The number of players each NA3HL team is sending to the event was based on each team’s winning percentage within their group.
The NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament is another great example of the cooperative relationship and ladder of development between the NA3HL and NAHL. The fact remains that when it comes to Tier III junior leagues, no other league has had more movement and advanced more players onto play in the NAHL than the NA3HL. Through the NAHL’s vast resources for development and exposure, like the annual Top Prospects Tournament, the NA3HL provides a worthy path for players to grow, on and off the ice, while being showcased in front of the entire junior, college and professional scouting community.
The NA3HL is in its 12th season in 2021-22 and serves as one of the top training grounds in the country by providing the best coaching, exposure, and developmental vehicles available for student-athletes in Tier III junior hockey. It is one of only two USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior leagues. No other league of its kind has had more movement and advanced more players onto play in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) than the NA3HL. Thanks to additional and enhanced initiatives in cooperation with the NAHL put in place several years ago, more players from the NA3HL play, practice, and earn NCAA Division I scholarships with the NAHL than any other league.
As was the case last season, the teams will not be comprised of the five divisions that make up the NA3HL like in years past they will have four teams with the following names with mixed rosters: Team Red, Team Blue, Team White, and Team Black. Each of the TPT teams (88 players and eight coaches total) will each play two games with each squad having 22 players (13 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders) along with a head coach and an assistant coach. Respective head coaches from around the league nominated any players that were considered for the prestigious event.
The NA3HL’s Frontier Division will be represented by former Great Falls Americans Assistant Coach (2019-20) and current head coach of the Gillette (WY) Wild, Ethan Hayes will be assisting Granite City Lumberjacks Head Coach Brad Willner on Team Blue.
In addition to the players being announced, the coaches were also named. Northeast Generals Head Coach Darryl Locke will guide the Black Team with assistance from Mason City Toros Head Coach Nick Bruneteau. The Blue Team’s Head Coach is Brad Willner (Granite City Lumberjacks). Ethan Hayes (Gillette Wild) will assist Brad Willner. The Red Team Head Coach will be Ed Galiani (Texas Brahmas) and assisting him will be the Rochester Grizzlies mentor Chris Ratzloff. Helena Bighorns Head Coach Damon Hanson will guide the White Team with Oregon Tradesmen’s Eric Fenton assisting.
To view the full list of coaches and the schedule, please click here.
The Frontier Division will have a total 20 players spread throughout the four teams competing in the ‘all-star like” event including four each from the Gillette (WY) Wild (Isaac Young, Brock Trboyevich, Sky Solig and Jake Turek) and the Helena Bighorns (Taber Gutschick, Tylor Greene, Samuel Feamster, and Eric Buchholz), three each from the Bozeman Ice Dogs (Luke Busher, Makhai Sparks, Ian Bowman) and the Great Falls Americans (AJ Benit, Jackson Henningsgard, Micah Serino), two each from the Butte Cobras (Nick Bradshaw and Luke Schleusner), two each from the Butte Cobras (Nick Bradshaw and Luke Schlensner) and the Badlands Sabres (Seth Stock and Zach Vockler) and one each from the Yellowstone Quake (Gustav Ostman) and Sheridan Hawks (McCaffrey Billings).
The Great Falls Americans will be sending defenseman AJ Benit and forwards Jackson Henningsgard and Micah Serino to Pennsylvania. All three American players will suit up for Team Blue.
“All three of our guys that were selected (to play at the Top Prospects Tournament) are very deserving and are having nice seasons,” said Great Falls Americans Head Coach and General Manager, Greg Sears. “I am sure they will represent our program well in Pittsburgh.”
2022 Top Prospects Tourney Schedule: (All Times converted to Mountain Standard Time)
Monday, February 7th
9:00AM: Red vs. Blue (FedEx Rink)
9:45AM: White vs. Black (Covestro Rink)
Tuesday, February 8th
7:00AM: Blue vs. White (Covestro Rink)
9:30AM: Black vs. Red (Covestro Rink)
Here is a list of the Frontier Division players and the teams they will be suiting up for at the Top Prospects Tournament.
| Team Red | ||
| Player Name | Position | NA3HL Frontier Team |
| McCaffrey Billings | Defenseman | Sheridan Hawks |
| Team Blue | ||
| Player Name | Position | NA3HL Frontier Team |
| Nick Bradshaw | Forward | Butte Cobras |
| AJ Benit | Defenseman | Great Falls Americans |
| Isaac Young | Forward | Gillette Wild |
| Brock Trboyevich | Defenseman | Gillette Wild |
| Gustav Ostman | Forward | Yellowstone Quake |
| Luke Schleusner | Forward | Butte Cobras |
| Sky Solig | Forward | Gillette Wild |
| Jackson Henningsgard | Forward | Great Falls Americans |
| Micah Serino | Forward | Great Falls Americans |
| Jake Turek | Goaltender | Gillette Wild |
| Ethan Hayes | Assistant Coach | Gillette Wild (Head Coach/GM) |
| Team White | ||
| Player Name | Position | NA3HL Frontier Team |
| Taber Gutschick | Defenseman | Helena Bighorns |
| Seth Stock | Defenseman | Badlands Sabres |
| Zach Vockler | Forward | Badlands Sabres |
| Tylor Greene | Forward | Helena Bighorns |
| Samuel Feamster | Forward | Helena Bighorns |
| Erick Buchholz | Goaltender | Helena Bighorns |
| Damon Hanson | Head Coach | Helena Bighorns (Head Coach/GM) |
| Team Black | ||
| Player Name | Position | NA3HL Frontier Team |
| Luke Busher | Defenseman | Bozeman Ice Dogs |
| Makhai Sparks | Forward | Bozeman Ice Dogs |
| Ian Bowman | Forward | Bozeman Ice Dogs |
Click on the links below for a full roster list (printable PDF version) from each of the four teams.
Team Blue Team White Team Black Team Red
Click here to view the NA3HL Press Release with rosters, coaches, and schedule and information for the 2022 Top Prospects Tournament. Fans can also follow the action live at HockeyTV and see the stats updated live on the NA3HL Scoreboard.
The following links are articles relating to the 2022 Top Prospects Tournament.
January 28, 2022: NA3HL News: NA3HL announces 2022 Top Prospects rosters
January 24, 2022: NA3HL News: 2022 NA3HL Top Prospects just two weeks away
To view more information about the 2022 Top Prospects Tournament, please visit the tournament webpage: http://na3hl.com/tpt/
Click here to view the article on the NA3HL League Website.