CAN/AM Lake Placid Tournament Summary - 3/28/26 - 3/29/26

Do you believe in miracles? After approximately 10 years of waiting, the Dare Devils finally made it back to Lake Placid to feel the magic of skating on the same sheet of ice where the 1980 USA hockey team made Olympic history. There was so much enthusiasm amongst the players that we had to register two teams for this tournament. The Dare Devils White squad was represented by Patrick Law, Will Trampota, Andrew Piccirillo, Andrew DePiero, Aaron Quintana, Ryan Kientz, Andrew Katz, Madison Mitchell and Samantha Ciemiecki. Meanwhile, Reese Citro, Kory Wadleigh, Jimmy McTernan, Shea Passikoff, James Cooney, Kieran O'Malley, Liam Smith, Ayden Duran, Richie Sherman, Ryan Tomkievicz and Michael Thampoe suited up for the Dare Devils Red team. Goalie duties for both teams were handled by veteran superstar Matty Brighton, with the occasional spell from our favorite guest goalie, Taylor Esposito. After an awesome opening ceremony on Friday, where Taylor Esposito received a roaring ovation for lighting the Olympic Torch, the Dare Devils kicked off their game action on Saturday. Below is a summary of the games and this post will be updated throughout the weekend.

Saturday, 3/28/26 - Dare Devils White vs. Cleveland Rockin' Wildcats - USA Rink:

The Dare Devils opening game was against a top tier team from Cleveland, Ohio. Heeding the tough love from bench coach Andy Piccirillo, the white jersey'd Dare Devils came ready to play. Patrick Law opened the scoring by converting a breakaway off a beautiful pass from Andrew Piccirillo. Everyone on the team was looking to make the extra pass, led by veteran superstars Will Trampota and Aaron Quintana, who continually looked to setup their teammates for goals. The offensive highlight was a rebound goal from Andrew DePiero, assisted by Will Trampota. In addition to the stellar goaltending from Matty Brighton (who stood on his head the entire game), the defense was anchored by the steadying play of veteran leaders, Will Milazzo, Andrew Katz. The game was back and forth but the Dare Devils ultimately lost a score of 8-6. The Dare Devils on the scorecard were Patrick Law (4 goals), Ryan Kientz (3 assists), Will Trampota (1 goal, 1 assist), Andrew Piccirillo (1 assist), Samantha Ciemicki (1 assist) and Madison Mitchell (1 assist). 

Saturday, 2/28/26 - Dare Devils Red vs. New York Raptors - 1932 Arena:

The Dare Devils didn't have to wait long to try and avenge last weekends loss at the hands of the Raptors. This time, playing on neutral ice, the Dare Devils dictated the pace with two evenly matched lines. Given this game was directly after the white squad's game, Taylor Esposito backstopped the team in net and made several highlight reel stops. Similar to their teammates on the white squad, this iteration of the Dare Devils played true team hockey and were consistently looking to set each other up and defend one another on the ice. This was highlighted on several occasions throughout the game. There was a play in the corner where Shea Passikoff was battling for a puck and the Raptors took some liberties with their sticks. James Cooney and Kieran O'Malley came to the defense of their teammate and there were not any similar incidents the rest of the game. In addition, superstars Reese Citro, Jimmy McTernan, Kory Wadleigh, Liam Smith and Ayden Duran were all consistently making the extra pass to their teammates, to the delight of Coach Myles. One example of this was when Taylor Esposito made a perfect breakout pass from behind the net to superstar Kory Wadleigh, who buried a 30 foot wrist shot into the back of the Raptors goal. The Dare Devils ultimately came out victorious on a last second tic-tac-toe Jimmy McTernan goal, with multiple passes going back and forth between Reese Citro and Jimmy. The box score was as follows: Jimmy McTernan (6 goals), Shea Passikoff (3 goals, 1 assist), Kory Wadleigh (1 goal, 2 assists), Kieran O'Malley (2 goals), Michael Thampoe (1 goal, 1 assist), James Cooney (1 goal, 1 assist), Liam Smith (1 goal after a strong back check to retrieve the puck, 1 assist), Reese Citro (1 assist), Ayden Duran (1 assist), Taylor Esposito (1 assist) and Richie Sherman (1 assist). The defense was paced by the strong play of Reese Citro, Kieran O'Malley and Kory Wadleigh while Richie Sherman was all over the ice throughout the game.