ANAHEIM — A long road for the Wheeling Park Patriots came to a head on Saturday in the USA 1A Nationals Championships in Anaheim, California on the Anaheim ICE indoor rink complex. The Patriots started the day with a victory over the Charleston (SC) Mariners in the quarterfinals before dropping their semifinals competition against the Waterloo Warriors.

In the quarterfinals against the Mariners, played at 8 a.m., Park prevailed 4-1.

After a scoreless first period Owen Abraham scored an unassisted goal to launch the Patriots ahead. Charleston tied the game thereafter, but the Patriots scored the last three goals of the game, all also coming in the second period. Two flew off the stick of Luke Simonetti, one assisted by Landon Szazynski, and Cooper Abraham scored one goal.

Jaxson Updegraff had 27 saves in-goal for Wheeling Park.

The Patriots had some downtime before their next game that same day, taking back to the ice at 3:30 p.m.

Unfortunately, Waterloo took a 1-0 lead after the first period and never looked back. Owen Abraham scored the lone goal for the Patriots, a tally which brought the score to 2-1 Waterloo at the 11:17 mark of the second period.

Wheeling Park graduates seniors Anna Brannare, Landon Szazynski, Sam Kiger and Kaden Schnarr from their program. The 1A championship is set for 8:45 a.m. on Sunday morning.