KITTANNING — The Armstrong Arrows amateur hockey program didn't have an Under-16 team last season and wasn't planning on having one this year.

It wound up having one of the best.

The Arrows' U-16 major team reached the championship game of the USA Hockey Youth National Championships in Wayne, N.J., falling to the Maine Moose, 7-4, earlier this week.

“The Arrows had not had a U-16 team since 2012-13,” coach Lee Grafton said. “This was more of a hybrid team this year.

“We represented the Arrows (out of Kittanning's Belmont Arena), but we played more of an independent schedule with a lot of tournaments.”

It all worked.

The 16-player roster came from, the Arrows, Butler Valley Dawgs, Arctic Foxes and North Hills Vipers.

The team played 62 games and finished 39-20-3 overall. It reached the semifinals of the Silver Sticks Tournament in Philadelphia, lost in the finals of prestigious tournaments in Erie and Cleveland, and won the state district playoffs in Castle Shannon.

The latter event qualified the team for nationals.

“We put together a schedule that would get us ready for a national level of competition and it worked,” Grafton said.

Grafton played in the USA Hockey Nationals with the Pittsburgh Amateur Penguins 26 years ago. He played three years of junior hockey.

He had coached Kittanning High School to the Penguins Cup Finals and is now a coach for the Armstrong High School hockey team.

“A number of local players at this age who were pretty talented were being organized as a travel team and I was asked if I'd consider coaching them,” Grafton said.

“I said yes and here we are.”

Four Butler kids — Taite Dusheck, Justin Strobel, Ronan Miller and Jerome Oliver — are on the roster. Oliver, a forward/defenseman, scored 18 goals and had 39 assists this season.

Miller and Strobel, both forwards, scored 14 and 12 goals, respectively. Dusheck scored three goals and eight points.

Four Freeport players — forward Slade Ohl, defenseman Ben Drzemiecki, goaltenders Greg Smith and James Grasinger — are on the roster. Ohl scored two goals and five points, Drzemiecki five goals and 10 points.

Smith had a 1.94 goakls against average and .906 save percentage in 32 games. Grasinger had a 2.04 GAA and .901 save percentage in 22 contests.

The team's top player was Jace Rearick, who scored 47 goals and 68 points in 54 games. He will be eligible to play for the U-16 squad next year.

“The core of this team is back next year,” Grafton said. “We were one of the youngest teams at nationals with five 16-year-olds, eight 15-year-olds and four 14-year-olds.

“Our 14-year-olds were playing up an age division. Most of the teams we played were almost all 16-year-old kids.”

The Arrows opened the tournament with a 7-2 loss to the Alaska Oilers, “a game that opened up our eyes,” Grafton said.

Victories of 4-1 over the Phoenix Junior Coyotes and 1-0 over the Fort Wayne Fury Elite followed. Then came a 5-4 overtime win over Sylvania (Ohio) in the quarterfinals.

The Arrows defeated the Texas Brahmas, 3-2, in the semifinals to earn a berth in the title game. Maine built a 7-1 lead and put nearly 60 shots on goal before the Arrows rallied late.

“With the guys we've got coming back next year and some new talent competing for the few open spots we have, we all feel like we can get back here and win it,” Grafton said. “These kids are determined to do that.”