This past weekend the US Youth Championships took place at the Romeoville Athletic & Events Center just outside Chicago and when the dust settled the home team took home the gold.

The US Youth Nationals had a seven participating team and where close to getting eight teams but one out of town team was forced to withdraw in the last second.

The big takeaway from the weekend was the great atmosphere and camaraderie between the teams and players as well as some very high intensity games with emotional highs.

After some great round robin games we had Hustle and Flow Floorball against the Chicago Bulldogs and Orlando Vikings against Utah in the semis.

Despite a valiant effort by Hustle and Flow Floorball the Chicago Bulldogs where able to make it to the final. The semi between the Orlando Vikings and Utah was one for the history books. Utah would take the lead in the first but Orlando would come back and then the pattern repeated itself. With an equal score in full time and no goals in overtime the semi would be decided by penalty shots. Utah would be the winner by one in this exciting and even game.

In the bronze medal game the Orland Vikings where able to come out on top against Hustle and Flow Floorball.

The final would also be a great and even game. Although Chicago would score first and get ahead by two initially Utah would come back to within one in the end but Chicago scored the final goal and where able to seal the win.

Congratulations to all participating teams!  A big step forward for Youth floorball in the states and we can hardly wait for the next Youth Nationals that will be the 19-23 of July 2023 in Orlando, Florida.

Photos from most of the games can be found here. Note they are free for use but should be credited “Photo by Adam Troy” or similar.