The Philly Young Kings headed to Boston for Memorial Day weekend to compete in the prestigious Boston Showdown. The Boston Showdown is a Biosteel Next Gen Series event, and draws teams from all over North America.
The Philly Young Kings sent teams at the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 birth years.
The 2016s kicked off the event with a win against the Connecticut Junior Rangers (CJR), and followed that up with a huge win over Illinois Selects. At the close out of day one, the team was 2-0 at the top of the leader board. Saturday brought more of the same for the Young Kings as they picked up big wins Junior Bruins Elite and Junior Bruins National Elite.
The team finished round-robin play 4-0 and the top seed going into Sunday’s knockout stage. With a bye to the Semifinals, the team waited for its next opponent, and faced off against the Junior Bruins National Elite team again, where they rolled to another win. The Finals was a re-match against CJR, and while this game was closer, it concluded with the Kings taking home the Championship!
The 2013s came back to the event after finishing as Finalists in 2022 when they were undefeated before falling to Illinois Selects in the Championship. This year the Division was stacked with four (4) Brick teams competing in the event. Minnesota Brick, Western Selects, Boston Junior Bruins Brick, and CJR Brick were in the field of 16 teams. The Young Kings got off to a win early in the event with an Overtime win over Nor’East Selects 4-3, and then picked up a 6-2 win over Elite Stars Hockey Club to end Day 1 of the event 2-0.
Saturday the team cruised to a win over Atlantic Coast Elite, before handling 1494s Hockey Club and securing the number one (1) seed going into Sunday’s Knockout stage.
A Quarterfinal win over Boston Hockey Club setup a matchup against the Boston Junior Bruins Brick team, and what many were interested in seeing. The Young Kings scored early, and rolled to a 4-1 Semifinals win and an appearance in the Championship game for consecutive years. This time the Kings would face Western Selects Brick in a game that was back and forth but saw Western win, and take home the title. The Young Kings finished as Finalists for the second time in as many years, and put the market on notice that they are a program to be reckoned with as they finished the event with a 6-1 record and surrendered just 15 goals against the entire tournament.
