The 2023 Beast Tournament Series will includes some top U14 and U13 teams competing this year. Here is a look at some of the clubs:

U14

EAST COAST MILITIA

With an entire new roster outside of one returner, the U14 East Coast Militia are ready to excel on and off the ice under coach Nick Messina.

Messina is stressing trust, support and respect for his young athletes and knows they will all have an impact on the team.

“Every team has talent and every team will be strong in their own eyes,” said Messina. “For myself and the coaching staff we want these young men to play as a cohesive unit and be able to execute as a team. We will play as a unit and every player needs to accept his teammates as a brother. We will respect and care for one another and lift each other up when times get tough. That is what it means to be a part of the Militia family.”

Messina will have a number of strong players on both offense and defense playing for him this season and and in goal look for Julian “Juju” Herrera and Ryan Walsh to split the duties.

LONG ISLAND GULLS

The Long Island Gulls U14 squad will have a strong defensive core and very strong goaltending to hopefully take them far this upcoming Fall season.

Coach Spiro Markopoulos has a talented group starting with the forwards. Holding down the offense will be Greyson Smith, Davin Diflorio and Dominic Slevin.

On defense, some key members will be Michael Bonkov, Zack Ibo, Christopher Chinn and Matthew Koch.

Freshman Maddox Franks will handle the goaltending and coach Markopoulos is very confident in his abilities.

SEACOAST PERFORMANCE ACADEMY

The U14 Seacoast Performance Academy will be lead by Chris Davidson and he is eager to get this exciting season underway.

“Without playing a game yet, I really like our team’s skill level, compete and IQ,” said Davidson. “From our zoom calls and watching some of the play in the summer together, I expect our team chemistry to be solid which will turn into a lot of success on the ice.”

Key forwards will be Matys St. Gelaid (Quebec), Hunter Henderson (NH) and Luca Desjardins (Quebec).

Holding down the defense will be Brady Anundsen (WI), Noah Mazzola (MA), Leland Deluc (CA) and Jacob Turcotte (ME).

In goal, SPA will have Kam Jackson (NH) and Nicko Havel (Slovakia) both seeing time.

CONNECTICUT CHIEFS

The U14 Connecticut Chiefs are hoping to keep their momentum going from last season after winning the 2022-23 AYHL Championship with a deep roster and upgrades in net and up front.

“We have had tremendous success ultilizing our size, work ethic and sticking with the systems and process,” said head coach Dave Peltz.

Peltz will turn to freshmen Chase Banks (Manchester, CT), Jameson Fisher (Old Lyme, CT) and Chase High (Meriden, CT) as well as eighth-grader Jason Amer (Newington, CT) up front this season.

A few new forwards to the program hoping to contribute are Caleb Dembicer (Simsbury, CT), Braden Hall (Glastonbury, CT) and Ethan Cournoyer (Simsbury, CT).

On defense, freshman Ty Russell (East Longmeadow, MA) and Cam Scesa (Ridgefield, CT) will lead the way.

Freshman Mike Rafferty (Suffield Academy) will be between the pipes for the Chiefs.

U13

EAST COAST MILITIA

The U13 East Coast Militia will have a solid group coming in this season and coach Anthony Chighisola is stressing teamwork and being a band of brothers to the kids.

“We have a very talented group of forwards and that looks to be our position of strength,” said Chigihsola. “We are looking to play a fast paced game where we control the puck as much as possible in all three zones. The team as a whole will need to focus on our defensive game to help get the puck out of our zone.”

Chighisola will have plenty of forwards to turn to this season and they include Nathan Gafanhao (Quincy), John Brown (Warwick, RI), Cole Butler (Barnstable), Luke Giovanello (Marshfield), TJ McGuiggin (Scituate) and Ronan Foley (Randolph).

Also on offense will be Jack Manley (Duxbury), Reese Elwell (Montague), James Collins (Hanover), Bruce Ghostlaw (Walpole) and James Johnson (Abington).

On defense the East Coast Militia will have Derek Kelly (Hadley), Nico Polcari (Marshfield), Andrew Mullare (Hanover), Liam Graham (Marston Mills), Cole Tapper (Quincy), Finn Guenther (Scituate) and Rocco Manolakis (Abington).

Between the pipes, look for Nico Testa (Cranston, RI) and Ryan McArdle (Hanover) to take care of things.

LONG ISLAND GULLS

The Long Island Gulls U13 will look for improved team defense plus speed and puck movement under head coach Jeff Conroy.

Conroy is hoping his team can put together a strong season and have a lot more quality scoring chances.

Some of Conroy’s top forwards to look out for are Jake Conroy (Garden City, NY), James Fox (Locust Valley, NY), Miles Siegel (Long Beach, NY) and Matthew Ferrante (Syosset, NY). Andrew Wyda (Westchester, NY) is a newcomer to the offense this season.

On the blue line, you will see Nicholas DiMarco (Franklin Sqaure, NY), Christian LoPiano (Garden City, NY) and Ryan Conklin (Commack, NY). Also on defense will be Abraham Bartovic (Westchester, NY) and Ian Hearle (Westchester, NY).

In net, the Gulls will have the duo of Joseph Violante (Smithtown, NY) and Hugh Rooney (Westchester, NY) to do the job.

As for leaders on and off the ice, Conroy will be looking towards Andrew Randazzo (Smithtown, NY) and Jack Fanning (Brooklyn, NY).

NEW HAMPSHIRE MOUNTAIN KINGS:

The U13 New Hampshire Mountain Kings are a new group ready to show what they can do.

“We have some solid pieces to the puzzle and we will rely on structured team play and work ethic to compete in each game,” said head coach Clint Edinger. “We are very excited for this group to hit the ice.”

Offensively Edinger will look to Kingston Delmastro, Ty Pinardi, Hayden Edinger, Rhys Craigue, Anthony Drubothi and Drew Mercier to produce.

Reece Mounsey, Dax Bekar and Luke Caron will anchor the defense while Simon Hawkes and Jonah Vander Hooven will split the goaltending duties.