Atlantic Youth Hockey League

USAHockey.com piece on Noel Rubin and the 14U Coloinals

Release Date : 03/17/2016

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – (Special to USAHockey.com by Tom Robinson) Noel Rubin traveled from the east coast to Alaska in 1984 with the Philadelphia Junior Flyers as a pee wee to play for a national title.

Rubin’s players on the New Jersey Colonials Tier I 14U youth team earned him a trip back to the Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships by winning the Atlantic District tournament at the Ice Line Quad Rinks.

The Colonials prevented the North Jersey Avalanche from making it a clean sweep of the district’s Tier I titles when they won the best-of-three 14U series in two games, 2-0 and 5-3.

“This has been a long time coming for me,” said Rubin, whose team finished fourth in the nation in his days as a youth player.

John Farinucci and Marshall Warren scored two goals each to lead a come-from-behind effort in the second game.

Farinucci scored one of his goals shorthanded to force the tie.

Warren scored the game-winner in the last minute of the second period and again with 14 seconds left, both on assists from Danny Colon. The game-winner came off of a faceoff and the last goal was an empty-netter.

The title series continued a successful run for many of the players who make up the team. The core of the group has been together through six straight Atlantic Youth Hockey League (AYHL) regular-season titles as they’ve progressed through the age groups. This is the second time in three years that they have won a district title and the first time they’ve been old enough to qualify for nationals.

“About half of the team has been together the whole six years,” Rubin said.

The USA Hockey 14U Tier I Youth Nationals are scheduled for Anchorage from March 31-April 4.

Matt Schoer made five of his 12 saves in the third period of the 2-0 win in Saturday’s opening game.