BK BOYS LEAVEN DISAPPOINTMENT WITH OPTIMISM AFTER CLOSE CALLS AT NATIONALS

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Dan Collins had seen an exceptional performance by his team at USA Hockey Nationals before. 

 

After all, his 16U boys squad was the first at BK Selects to win a national championship, taking the coveted title in the spring of 2022. 

 

But, three years later, he has to sit with a less satisfying, more literal definition of exceptional. You see, the BK 16Us were the only Tier I team across four age groups to post a winning record in Nationals round-robin play and not advance to the knockout rounds, due to a goal-differential tiebreaker.

 

Combine that with similar near-misses by the 18U and 14U teams, and it was a reminder that elite-level hockey is played on the razor’s edge. 

 

“It is what it is,” Collins said. “I’m not going to sit here and nitpick. We played well in the games that we won. In the game we lost, we weren’t great. We controlled our destiny, unfortunately, in that way.

 

“We talked about it all year, that in a big tournament like that, it usually comes down to one goal here or there. That happened to be the exact lesson that we got.”

 

What made the 16Us’ short stay in Madison, Wisconsin, sting even more was that, despite being the 10th seed of 16 teams, they beat both of the teams in their group ranked ahead of them — the second-seeded New Jersey Rockets and seventh-ranked Seacoast (N.H.) Spartans — while they fell 2-0 to the 15th-seeded East Coast (Mass.) Militia. 

 

Collins noted that the 4-3 win over the Rockets was especially satisfying, because his team lost 7-1 to that same NE Pack foe in the first game of the 2024-25 season.

 

“We were playing some of our best hockey, so on that note, it’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to advance,” Collins said. “We did feel confident that we would give anyone a good push. It stunk, but it did end in a good way. We left there feeling good, honestly. We beat some good teams playing good hockey.”

 

Meanwhile, in suburban Pittsburgh, the 18Us received the short end of the hockey stick in a similarly painful way. Head coach David Arduin’s team won its four-team group, but got knocked out in the quarterfinals, 2-1 in overtime to Culver (Ind.) Academy. 

 

Like the 16Us, the sixth-seeded 18Us also topped the rival Rockets in the round-robin, followed by a shutout of the Ohio Blue Jackets that clinched a spot in the Nationals’ final eight.

 

“I think our team has a lot to be proud of,” Arduin said. “The easy thing to do is hang your hat on what happened at Nationals, but so much goes into the eight months we’re together.”

 

Arduin ticked off a handful of close calls for his team, from being one goal away from the national semifinal, to an overtime defeat in the championship of the MacPherson Cup, and another sudden-death loss in the knockout round of the Circle-K Classic in Calgary. 

 

“I think there’s a ton, silver-lining-wise,” Arduin said. “We were always putting ourselves in situations to win, at the 200-foot level. We had a hard-working, dedicated group.”

 

Defender Carson Yates (Sanibel, Fla.) wrapped up his three-year BK Selects career by leading the 18Us in scoring at Nationals, putting up two goals and two assists in four games. He factored in on both goals in the win over the Rockets that kept BK’s championship chances alive after a tourney-opening loss to Team Maryland.

 

“I was very proud of the team in general,” Yates said. “We never quit despite facing adversity. I thought we got off to a slow start, dropping Game 1, but we found our identity and started playing well in the remaining games.”

 

Yates, who aims to play in the junior-level North American Hockey League (NAHL) next season, reflected fondly about his time in Rochester as he awaits word on his destination for 2025-26.

 

“The last three years have been the time of my life,” he said. “It’s hard to put into words the love I have for BK and for the lasting relationships I’ve built. This is my home, and I’m forever grateful to those who made it special.

 

“I was given an opportunity to be a leader for my team, and I grew in that role and learned how to get the most from every player on the team.”

 

18U goaltender Sammy Doyon-Cataquiz (Falls Church, Va. / Quinnipiac University) also stood out at Nationals, earning first-team all-star accolades after posting a .950 save percentage. He’s expected to play next year for the Muskegon (Mich.) Lumberjacks of the Tier I United States Hockey League and was recently ranked 32nd among goalie prospects by NHL Central Scouting ahead of this June’s NHL Draft. 

 

And while 16U forward James Scantlebury (Montréal, Québec) is still a couple of years away from NHL Draft eligibility, he’s projected to join Doyon-Cataquiz in the USHL next season, as he just signed a tender agreement with the Chicago Steel. 

 

Scantlebury — who just turned 16 in January — recorded four points (1g, 3a) in three Nationals games to finish with exactly 100 points in 56 games this season for the 16Us, even though the trip to Wisconsin didn’t end in hardware for the team. 

 

“I think as a team we had a solid two wins (at Nationals),” Scantlebury said. “We played great, tough-to-play-against kind of hockey. We were having fun doing it as well, so that made it even better.”

 

Like coach Collins, Scantlebury also noted the ups and downs of the season for the 16Us, saying that he learned quite a bit about how to take a “professional” mindset onto the ice throughout the year. 

 

“I feel like going to the next level, that’s something that is often brought up, that and being a good teammate,” Scantlebury said. “I learnt how not to get too high or too low, no matter what. … I think I flourished at BK because I’m a hardworking (player) who always keeps his foot on the gas. I’m ready to outwork anyone to be better.”

 

The 14Us are also looking forward, after advancing to the knockout round of their Nationals bracket in Plymouth, Michigan. The sixth-ranked squad scored 16 goals in three group-stage games, with Bobby Spang (Blackwood, N.J.) popping in a team-high five. 

 

“The best thing about that group is the culture,” said Arduin, who also serves as Boys Hockey Director at Bishop Kearney. “They’ll have 95 percent of that group coming back. They’re so committed to the culture and they’re coming back in waves.”

 

When you factor in the 15Os, who were a goal away from winning the New York state tournament and locking up their own spot at Nationals, all four BK Selects boys teams have reason to leaven their end-of-season disappointments with a measure of offseason optimism. 

 

“We were right there,” Arduin said. “There’s a lot to build on.”