The McKinney Varsity Ice Hockey Team, which is made up of players from all three McKinney ISD high schools, competed at the USA Hockey National Tournament March 17-21, 2016, in Reston, Virginia. The team finished with two wins and one loss at the tournament.

The team drew the toughest pool of play in the tournament, having to face last year’s national champions, Cherry Creek, Colorado, this year’s eventual undefeated national champions JW Mitchell from Florida, and Dayton, Ohio.  Despite the tough draw, the team performed superbly.

In game one against Cherry Creek, Trevor McLain scored the club’s first goal at the national tournament, with North’s Ethan McKinley and Will Anderson assisting.  Cherry Creek scored two goals in the first to take the lead.  McKinney Boyd’s Jeff Kavulich tied the game early in the third period.  The game eventually went to overtime and appeared to be headed to a shootout, but McKinney Boyd’s Jim Kavulich picked up the rebound from Ross Hoppe’s shot to score the game winning goal with 3.6 seconds left in overtime.

The team ran into a highly skilled JW Mitchell team, and some overly active referees, in game two, eventually losing the game, as did the other five teams that played JW Mitchell at the tournament.

In game three, the team had some active referees again, getting called for four penalties in the first five minutes.  That led to two powerplay goals by Dayton, Ohio.  North’s Ethan McKinley made it a one goal game midway through the first when he scored a shorthanded goal. Dayton reclaimed a one goal lead in the final minute of the first period.  After that the game was all McKinney, with Boyd’s Tyler Valdron scoring in the second and Trevor McLain, Will Anderson and Ethan McKinley adding goals in the third period.

The team relied heavily upon its starting goalie, Boyd Junior Landon Brower, throughout the tournament.  Although the team did not make it to the quarterfinals because of the structure of the tournament, the team played fabulous and represented McKinney extremely well.

The team looks forward to trying for a three-peat next year.