The final day of team games wrapped up at the Boys Select 16 PDC today with Team Grey defeating Team Columbia 7-4. With the victory, Team Grey finished camp with 12 points, tied for the most with Team Red. While Team Red scored 18 goals in their four games, Team Grey led the camp with 30 goals. Earlier in the day Team Forest took down Team Gold 5-3. Team Forest's Ryan Corcoran (Duxbury, Mass.) led all skaters with three points, all assists.
RUNS IN THE FAMILY: Team Gold forward Kyle Kukkonen (Maple Grove, Minn.) is not the only member of his family to attend one of USA Hockey’s Player Development Camps this month. His older brother, Trevor, attended last week’s Select 17 Camp, recording an assist over five games as a member of Team Black.
BIG NAME IN THE BIG APPLE: Jack Gorton (Granite Springs, N.Y.), also of Team Gold, is the son of New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton. The elder Gorton got his NHL front-office career started with the Boston Bruins in 1994 and held various roles in their hockey operations department through 2007, including director of scouting, assistant general manager and interim general manager. The 50-year-old joined the Rangers as a pro scout in 2007-08, before being elevated to director of player personnel (2008-11), assistant general manager (2011-15) and ultimately his current role as general manager in 2015.
EXPERIENCE AT THE HELM: The Select 16 attendees listed below all had the opportunity to spend this past season under the direction of several distinguished NHL alumni – all of whom have elected to spread their knowledge through coaching elite youth teams across the country:
GOING THE DISTANCE: Team White closed out its camp with yet another tie-breaking shootout on Thursday, this time ousting Team Black by a score of 4-3. Unable to crown a winner in regulation time, the two clubs went eight rounds deep in the skills competition, before White eventually arose victorious. Jakub Teply (Stamford, Conn.) netted the shootout-clinching tally, which featured a total of seven goals on 16 attempts.
BEST-ON-BEST SET FOR FRIDAY: This week’s camp concludes Friday morning with select competitors being chosen to compete in the annual All-Star Game. Other names to participate in recent Select 16 All-Star Games include notable NHL prospects and youngsters Jack Roslovic (Winnipeg), Jordan Greenway (Minnesota), Kailer Yamamoto (Edmonton), Kieffer Bellows (New York Islanders), Troy Terry (Anaheim) and Jeremy Bracco (Toronto).