Some of the world's top women's hockey prospects kicked off their 2023-2024 season at the Labor Day Girls Fest in Pittsburgh.
Some of the world's top women's hockey prospects kicked off their 2023-2024 season at the Labor Day Girls Fest in Pittsburgh.
The annual Labor Day Girls Fest tournament in Pittsburgh was a reunion of sorts of many players who competed this summer in the U-18 Canada - USA Summer Select Series, as many of North America's top prospects were on hand.
One of the first major college recruiting and scouting events of the season, powerhouse clubs including Bishop Kearney, Burlington Barracudas, Waterloo Ravens, and East Coast Wizards among others, were all on hand.
In the semi-finals, Burlington edged the BK Selects 3-2, while the East Coast Wizards beat Chicago Mission 2-1 to set up the gold medal game.
In the final, Sadie Bellissimo and Alexsa Caron shared the shutout as the East Coast Wizards shutdown Burlington's high powered offense, while Morgan McGathey scored twice for the Wizards who took gold with a 3-0 win.
Leading the tournament in scoring were Canadian U-18 teammates Claire Murdoch (Connecticut commit) and Sara Manness (Minnesota commit) who had 15 and 14 points respectively in six games for the OWHL's Burlington Barracudas. They were followed closely by Esso Cup MVP and Summer Showcase invitee Madison Burr (Stoney Creek) who had 11 points and NCAA commits Brynn Prier (Burlington / Quinnipiac) who had nine. Hannah Weyerhaueser (Yale commit) was the leading scorer for the champion East Coast Wizards with seven points in six games.
Nora Curtis, a Cornell commit, and high scoring blueliner True Thompson were other standouts for the East Coast Wizards.
The top scoring defenders were USA U-18 national team member Taylor Senecal (Little Caesars) and Kate Manness (Burlington / Minnesota commit) who each had six points, followed by Rose Dwyer (Bishop Kearney / Cornell) and who had five points.
Other notable names at the tournament included Nela Lopusanova, Finley McCarthy, Bella Fanale (Bishop Kearney), Abby Stonehouse and Caitlin Kraemer (Waterloo Ravens), Nicole Gorbatenko (Chicago Mission), Ava Thomas (Philadelphia Jr. Flyers), and Layla Hemp (Minnesota Whitecaps).