Troy, MI - The Esmark Stars AAA Hockey U16 (Midget Minor) AAA squad captured the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL) T1ER One Dixon Cup Playoff Championship in Troy, MI, this past weekend (Feb. 18 - 21).

The Stars, who grabbed the league's number one playoff seed by winning the NAPHL Regular season title (winning percentage) posted a 2-1-0-0 record in round-robin play to advance to the league's playoff elimination rounds where they would capture three straight wins, including a 1-0 win over the Des Moines Buccaneers in the NAPHL T1ER One Championship game on Monday, Feb. 21, to claim the league's championship.

The Stars opened round-robin play with a 7-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, Jan. 18, at the Troy Sports Complex in Troy, MI.  Joshua Coffee (2G, 1A), Nathan Burlando (1G, 1A), Aaron Stawiarski (1G, 1A), Colin Ruffner, Billy Kiray III, and Caden Lindo Canfield scored goals for the Stars. Zakary Wilcox (2A), Wesley Schwarzmiller (2A), Max Rutkowski and Aiden Briggs picked up assists. Ian Amaranto stopped all 13 shots he faced to pick up the win and shutout in goal.

The Stars grabbed an identical 7-0 win over the New Hampshire Jr Avalanche on Saturday (Jan. 19) morning back at the Troy Sports Complex in their second game of round-robin action. Aaron Stawiarski (2G, 1A), Nathan Burlando (1G, 1A), Max Rutkowski (1G, 1A), Wesley Schwarzmiller (1G, 1A), Zak Wilcox and Colin Ruffner scored the Stars goals. Billy Kiray III (2A), Aiden Briggs and Caden Lindo Canfield added assists. Ian Amaranto stopped all 21 shots he faced to pick up his second win and shutout in goal for the Stars.

The win guaranteed the Stars a spot in the playoffs elimination round with one round-robin game remaining against the Des Moines Buccaneers, at the Troy Sports Complex, to determine the final seeding from Division I on Saturday evening. 

Des Moines would grab a 2-0 shutout win and the top seed from Division I as Buccaneers goaltender Gabe Owen stopped all 29 Esmark shots he faced to earn the win and shutout in goal. Stars goalie Ian Amaranto would stop 21 of 22 shots he faced, but suffered the loss in goal. Des Moines closed out the scoring with an empty net goal with :44 seconds remaining in the third period.

The Stars U16 squad advanced to the Dixon Cup quarter-finals as the number 2 seed from Division I, where they would grab a 4-1 win over Division IV number 1 seed Maine Nordiques on Sunday morning at the Troy Sports Complex. Nathan Burlando, Aiden Briggs, Colin Ruffner and Joshua Coffee scored the Stars goals. Ilya Zhdanov, Aaron Stawiarski, Rory Shegan Siniawski and Billy Kiray III all picked up assists. Goaltender Ian Amaranto stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced to pick up the quarter-final win for the Stars.

The quarter-final win propelled the Stars into a Dixon Cup semi-finals showdown with the Northstar Christian Academy Knights on Sunday evening. And that game would be a game for the ages, played out in front of a standing room only crowd at the Suburban Ice Arena in Macomb, MI. It would also be a repeat of the 2021 16U Dixon Cup semi-finals where the two clubs also also met in the league's 16U Dixon Cup semi-finals, with Northstar winning the game 3-2 in an overtime shootout.

This time, however, the Stars would return the favor.

Nathan Burlando scored the Stars lone regulation goal, his fifth straight game with a goal, as he buried a rebound on a shot from Max Rutkowski into the Knights net 12:26 into the third period. However, Bronson Hunt would knot the score at 1-1 with :22 seconds remaining in regulation play, as Northstar pulled their goalie and took advantage of their six skaters on the ice, to forge a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation. The two clubs then skated to a scoreless five minute, 5-on-5 overtime, and then a five minute, 3-on-3 overtime. To force a 3-man shootout to decide the game. However, the first three shooters for each team were denied, as Stars goaltender Ian Amaranto and Knights goalie Beck Liden took turns denying each team's penalty shot shooters. This forced the shootout into sudden death.  Both goaltenders continued their dominate performance through an additional three rounds. However, in round seven, Nathan Burlando would again find the back of the net to give the Stars the lead. And Amaranto would close the deal stopping his seventh straight Knights' shootout shooter and give the Stars a 2-1 win and a spot in the NAPHL U16 Championship game and a rematch with the Des Moines Buccaneers. For the game, Amaranto stopped 40 of the 41 Knights shots he faced, plus the seven shootout shots, to earn the win in goal.

In the Championship game on Monday morning, at the Troy Sports Complex, Nathan Burlando would continued his goal scoring streak, converting a breakaway pass from Billy Kiray III at the 14:27 mark of period one to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Ilya Zhdanov also picked up an assist on the Burlando goal. That first period goal would stand up as the Stars would hold on for a 1-0 Dixon Cup U16 T1ER One Championship victory. Ian Amaranto stopped all 15 Des Moines shots he faced to pick up his fifth win, and third shutout, of the playoffs for the Stars. For the game, the Stars outshot Des Moines 28-15.

The U16 win was the second NAPHL Dixon Cup Championship for the Stars Midget Minor teams (2022 and 2017). The Stars have also previously claimed NAPHL Championships at both the U18 Midget Major (2018) and Pee Wee Minor levels (2022).

At the 2022 NAPHL T1ER One Playoffs, both the Stars U14 Bantam Major squad and the U18 Midget Major squad advanced out of round-robin play and into the championship rounds. The Bantam Minor squad, who finished round-robin play 3-0-0-0, was knocked out in the semi-finals by Car Shield AAA, 4-3, and the Stars Midget Major squad would fall in the quarter-finals, 2-1, to Biggby Coffee U18 AAA.