Highlander Hockey Undefeated at the ECEL Winter Classic

It was an exciting weekend for our Highlander boys hockey team as we traveled to Hooksett, New Hampshire to compete in the East Coast Elite League (ECEL) Winter Classic. To kick off the weekend, nine of our players were selected to the ECEL all-star game along with me as head coach of team light blue. Simon Beaudry ‘23, Cole Cooper ‘25, Junsu Kwak ’25 and Max Tracy ’25 were selected to team light blue. Kaden Smith ‘25, Mason Strong ‘25, Ondrej Fiala ‘23, Carter Morrison ‘24 and Jacob Singer ‘25 were selected to team navy blue. The game was held at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire with players from all over the world. Our own Junsu Kwak led team light blue to victory with a goal and assist in a 3-1 win.

Our first game of the weekend was against Atlanta Fire. Our team was able to come back from being down 3-1 to win 7-4! Kaden Smith scored twice, while Mason Strong, Zane Scott ‘23, Max Tracy, Junsu Kwak and Maverick Murray ‘26 all added singles. Tadeáš Bezdek ‘24 had his first action playing in nets. He played a great game and got his first win as a Highlander!

Our second game of the weekend was against the Northern Cyclones. It was a close match the entire game but with minutes to go, Junsu Kwak scored a beautiful game winner! Mason Strong and Adam Crocker also got on the score sheet adding singles.

The third game of the weekend we faced powerhouse Ontario Hockey Academy (OHA). Our captain Joe MacLean ‘23 scored a big goal to get things rolling, and we never looked back. Zane Scott, Ondrej Fiala and Max Tracy also added singles!

The last game of the weekend our KES boys took on the 95 Giants. With a tired group we were able to “find a way to win”. This was their fifth game in three days. The final score was 3-2 with Mason Strong, Kaden Smith and Carter Morrison scoring for our Highlanders.

With the 4-0 record on the weekend, this secured us at the top of the league with a final record of 11-1. This will give us a good seat heading into the championship weekend in February.