31-03-2025
Northern California youth hockey team to compete for national championship
Northern California isn't normally a hotbed of ice hockey activity. But that may be changing. For the second time in three years, a local youth hockey team is traveling to compete for a national championship and this is a team that is accustomed to travel.
"So we're here in San Francisco, just gearing up for 18 AA Nationals," said head coach Casey OSullivan on Sunday morning at an ice rink in San Francisco.
For many of the players on the Golden State Elite, every game is an away game. Heck, for most of them, even the practices are away.
"For this team especially, we do a lot of travel in the Bay Area," OSullivan said. "We have people all the way in Sacramento down to Monterey. And so, we do a lot of travel for practices, for games. And so we're just excited to get out to Utica and compete."
The Elite is a team of players 18 years and under. They won the state championship last weekend and are the only team in Northern California to qualify for the National tournament in Utica, New York, starting on Wednesday.
Ranked in the top eight in the country, some team members travel for hours to practices held in the basement of an abandoned mall in Cupertino. But through it all, co-captains Benjamin Dickson and James Murphy said they not only keep their perspective but also their sense of humor.
"Well, I think the most important thing is friendship. Friendship's number one, and it kind of starts with us and it feeds off of everyone else here," Dickson said.
"Yeah, as the captains of the team," said Murphy, in a serious voice as his teammates started to giggle, "it's important for us to make sure no, uh, separate groups, and uh..."
That's as far as he got before he and everyone else burst out laughing.
It's clear they enjoy themselves and each other, but OSullivan said while the eastern teams may have more resources, they all share the same passion for the game.
"We talk about having each other's back, both on ice and off the ice," OSullivan said. "And that's the most important thing you can have as a team."
Assistant coach Kevin Nathan agreed.
"When one of the players goes down or one's having a bad game, all the rest of his teammates are there to pick him up," he said. "And that's a true testament to the team, that together they've been very successful, even through the ups and downs of everything."
And goalie Tom Kahle said it's nice to know the team is watching his back as well as a gigantic set of shoulder pads.
"It's pretty easy to be a goalie on this team," Kahle said. "All the forwards, we block shots, we backcheck. The defense has been playing really well in front of us. Going into nationals, I know that I have to do my job to make their job easy for them and I know that they're going to make my job easy for me.
But nothing will be easy about this trip. The coach said eastern teams play a tougher, more physical style and GS Elite has been practicing to adapt to that.
"Just getting ready to play those harder and bigger teams," Dickson said. "A lot of hitting today, a lot of physicality just to prepare us for that kind of hockey when we get to New York."
Sixteen teams compete in the 18 AA Nationals championship tournament, put on by USA Hockey. Golden State Elite will have to beat Texas, Delaware and Connecticut to get to the championship game. The players head out Monday leaving from different airports near their homes. And while they may have to get used to hitting the other know all about hitting the road.
