It was a long path set before the bottom four teams in the Squirt Division as they went in search of hoisting the division’s Silver Cup. For the Southeastern Grizzlies, Natick Chill, Central Mass Cobras and Raynham Raiders, they first had to make it through a pair of contests on Saturday in order to advance to Championship Sunday.

It was a long path, but seemingly a nonissue for either the Grizzlies or Chill.

Both made quick work of their opponents in their morning play-in games, the Grizzlies posting an 11-0 victory over the Raiders and the Chill more than avenging their shootout loss to the Cobras in their regular season finale the week before. Things were not much different when they returned to the ice in the afternoon and posted their semifinal upsets either. The seventh seeded Grizzlies rolled past the No. 6 South Shore Sabercats 7-1, while the Chill offense continued to click as the took down the Silver Cup’s top seed in the No. 5 North Shore Stingrays by a 13-7 margin.

After scoring a combined 30 the day before, the Chill offense seemed to run out magic in Sunday’s Silver Cup final against the Grizzlies. They managed just two against goaltender Ethan Arruda and the Grizzly defense, while the Southeastern offense was kept up their scoring touch, yet again approaching double digits.

Anders Alves was the team’s only multiple goal scorer as the Grizzlies put away eight in the finals, hoisting the trophy as Squirt Silver Cup Champions following an 8-2 win.

After a number of tiebreakers knocked the North Shore Stingrays out of the Gold Cup chase and into the Silver Cup bracket, conventional wisdom may have thought they would have claimed the franchise’s second Peewee Silver Cup with ease. In the end, they did hoist the trophy on Championship Sunday, but the tournament was not without its surprises along the way.

The summer of 2014 was something of a trying one for the Natick Chill. With a number of players that had moved up from a Squirt team that was undefeated in 2013, the Chill struggled at the next level, finishing at the bottom of the Peewee Division. The regular season is one thing, however, and the playoffs another.

The Chill scored one of the biggest upsets of Championship Weekend on Play-In Friday, exploding for three first period goals and then holding on late as they posted a 4-3 win over the No. 7 Marlboro Thunder to advance to Semifinal Saturday. Unfortunately, that is where their Cinderella run ended as they met the Stingrays, who used their own tricks against them, four first period goals pacing North Shore’s 7-3 win.

While there was no upset to be had, despite a stellar performance turned in by goaltender Dominic Massaro, the division’s second play-in game was just as tightly matched as the first with the Raynham Raiders outlasting the Southeastern Grizzlies, 2-1. Shaun Fitzpatrick the hero of the night for Raynham, scoring both his team’s goals, the game-winner coming with just 3:21 remaining in regulation.

Much like the upstart Chill, the Raiders run came to an end in the semifinals, handled there easily by the South Middlesex Coyotes, who exploded for six in the first period en route to a 12-0 victory to advance to the championship.

The Coyotes gave the Stingrays a run on Championship Sunday, but the title was theirs to lose and the Stingrays made sure they did not.

South Middlesex gained the game’s first lead on a Ty Blumberg goal just 33-seconds in, but North Shore’s David Bazile responded to even the game less than a minute later. They then took the lead on a Jared Vecchio goal at 6:29 of the first and never looked back.

The team’s played to identical 2-1 scores in both the first two period. With the Stingrays leading 4-2 headed into the third, both offenses then sprung for four apiece in the game’s final 15:00. South Middlesex responded nicely to each North Shore goal, but they could never fully catch their foe. The Stingrays kept far enough ahead to post a 9-6 victory and claim the Peewee Silver Cup Championship.

Since its inception, the NEFS Silver Cup Playoffs have been no stranger to upsets and Cinderella stories. No more perfect example of that came just last season when the 2-10-0 Bantam Southeastern Grizzlies entered the playoffs as the 10th ranked team out of 10 before going on to be crowned Silver Cup Champions.

This summer, it was the Central Mass Cobras who looked to write a playoff fairytale. After a winless regular season, the Cobras took on the defending Bantam Gold Cup Champion South Shore Sabercats in the play-in round. After a 1-1 first period, both offenses arrived in the second period, the teams trading shots back-and-forth the rest of the way, both sides holding the lead at one point or another. Connor Starr’s goal at 9:28 of the third period, however, gave the Cobras the lead for good before an empty-netter by Ethan Thorpe with 0:32 remaining sealed the 8-6 win.

Clock struck midnight for Cinderella in the semifinals, but not before striking fear into the Marlboro Thunder, a team worthy of playing for the Gold Cup. With the Thunder leading 5-2, the Cobras struck for a pair just 23-seconds apart at 13:37 and 14:00 of the third period to get to within one. They held the puck in the Thunder end much of the game’s final minutes and had their chances on net, but goaltender Angela Ferro and the Marlboro defense shut the door on the comeback bid.

The Thunder survived their match with the Cobras to advance to the finals, where they turned it around in a big way against the eighth ranked Natick Chill, a team that had to put up an upset of their own in order to make it to the season’s final day.

After taking down the ninth seeded Grizzlies on Play-In Friday, the Chill gave the No. 6 Boston Brahmas all they could handle in the semis. The day looked as though it was going to be a long one for the Chill once Michael Pitocchelli put Boston up 1-0 just 15-seconds into the contest, but the Chill responded and went stride-for-stride with the Brahmas. The game went to overtime tied 3-3 and was decided by Harrison Fuller at 3:05 of the extra session.

Despite the scare the Cobras had put into them and how well the Chill had played in the postseason, the Thunder asserted themselves as champions in their final match of 2014.

Chill forward Jack Canney scored just 11-seconds into the second period to cut the Thunder lead to 2-1 for seemingly but a moment. Following the Canney goal, Marlboro’s offense opened up for five in the middle frame to pace the 9-2 victory they posted in being crowned Bantam Silver Cup Champions.

A NEFS Championship is something that seems to have been along time coming for the Varsity South Shore Sabercats, but is elusive no longer.

A team that has been knocking on the door for a number of years, but could never quite get over the title hump, Championship Weekend and with it the 2014 New England Future Stars season ended with the Sabercats capturing the championship that has eluded them since 2010 when it was the NEFS’ Midget Division.

The weekend, however, started with the division’s play-in contests, one of which went according to script as the No. 7 South Middlesex Coyotes handled the 10th seeded Norfolk County Hawks. The Marlboro Thunder then flipped the script in the No. 8 versus No. 9 matchup, as the underdog Thunder doubled up on the Boston Brahmas with ease, posting an 8-4 victory to advance to Semifinal Saturday.

Overtime was needed to decide the division’s first semifinal, the Coyotes and the Raynham Raiders unable to settle things through three periods. After blowing a two-goal third period lead, the Raiders regained themselves and recovered in overtime. Eric Perry’s only goal of the postseason was a timely one for the Raiders, as it delivered the kill stroke at 5:11 of the extra session.

The Sabercats struggled early in their semifinal contest against the again underdog and undermanned Thunder, trailing 3-1 after the first period. Skill and stamina ultimately took over and South Shore coasted to the finals with a 9-3 win coming on the strength of six third period goals. Adam Carvalho’s hat trick leading the way for the victors.

Defense prevailed in the title match, the Sabercats and Raiders playing scoreless through the first and third periods. The game’s only offense came in the blink of an eye in the second period. Chris Lovell scored the game’s first goal at 5:01 of the second to put the Sabercats up one before Tyler McKinnon came right back and made it 2-0 at 5:52.

The Raiders were always within striking distance throughout the heated battle, but the Sabercats were ready to claim their championship, keeping themselves in front and when the season finally came to an end were crowned as the 2014 Varsity Silver Cup Champions.