Rats Go Toe-to-Toe with #1 Honeybaked; Lee's Shootout Winner Lifts Flames Past Woodbridge

Day 2 at USA Hockey 15U Nationals in Green Bay delivered exactly what we expected: two defining games for Massachusetts. The River Rats went blow for blow with the tournament's #1 seed before falling 5-3, while the Minutemen Flames gutted out a shootout victory over #4 Woodbridge behind a clutch performance from Sam Lee. Here's how both games played out.

The River Rats showed they belong on this stage. Against a Honeybaked team loaded with two NTDP Evaluation Camp invitees in Henry Buttweiler and Dylan Delgado, the Rats refused to go away quietly.

Honeybaked struck first to go up 1-0, but #9 Jake Donatelli answered on the power play with a point shot after a crisp PP entry to tie it 1-1. Jack Queally and Nicholas Ware picked up the assists. Then #74 Colin Walsh gave the Rats their first lead with a heads-up wrap around goal after #33 Drew Short unleashed a blistering shot that rang off the post. Walsh was right there to clean it up. 2-1 Rats.

Honeybaked tied it back at 2-2 at the 4:04 mark, and then came the gut punch. With less than 1:30 left in the first period, Honeybaked scored from the red line - a fluke shot that somehow found the back of the net to make it 3-2 heading into the break. A two-goal swing on a shot that had no business going in.

The Rats didn't fold. In the second period, #23 Roan Wilson delivered the pass of the tournament - a beautiful full-ice feed from his own end that hit #12 Carter Felt in stride. Felt got behind the Honeybaked defense, went in alone on the breakaway, and buried it to tie the game 3-3. The building was buzzing.

But Honeybaked is the #1 seed for a reason. They went up 4-3 late in the second and added an insurance goal late in the third to secure the 5-3 win. The final score doesn't tell the full story. The River Rats went toe-to-toe with the best team in the tournament and proved they can compete with anyone in the country.

If the Rats game was a heavyweight fight, the Flames game was a chess match. The Minutemen Flames and #4 Woodbridge Wolfpack played to a 2-2 tie through three periods and stayed knotted after 3-on-3 overtime. It took a shootout to settle it, and Sam Lee - the Belmont Hill sniper and NTDP eval camp invitee - delivered the clinching goal to give the Flames a 3-2 shootout win.

#26 Brayden Erickson opened the scoring in regulation with a goal off a shot from Alex Guo on the blueline. #82 Ethan Machado added the second Flames goal, assisted by Sam Lee and #79 CJ Sawyer. Woodbridge answered both times to force extras.

When it went to the shootout, it was Sawyer and Lee who stepped up. CJ Sawyer scored first to give the Flames life, and then Sam Lee buried the winner to seal the 3-2 victory. Of course it was Lee. The kid who built his office on the right dot all season at Belmont Hill came through when his team needed him most on the national stage.

The Flames are now 2-0 at Nationals. Two games, two wins, neither one easy. That's what it takes at this level.