1/7/00

Mandes MVP in Toronto 

The Atlantic/S.E. 14's, paced by tournament MVP Steven Mandes, returned home late last week from the Toronto Marlies Tournament with the championship of the Minor Bantam division. 

Mandes, a 5'10", 155 lb. center who'll likely be going to Hotchkiss, Deerfield, or Choate next year, had an 8-6-14 line in seven games. Tenacious and hard-working, Mandes is also extremely athletic, showing great acceleration and an explosiveness that sets him apart from his peers. He keeps his legs moving at all times, hits anything in his path, wins faceoffs, drives to the net hard, and battles along the wall and in the corners. John Riley, who coached him in Toronto last week and will be relying on him at the Select 15 Festival in the summer, believes Mandes to be the best Philly/Jersey player since John Sabo and Tyler Kolarik. "He's cut from the same cloth as those two," Riley said. "He's extremely instinctive. He does things you can't teach." On top of everything else, Mandes, who's from Bucks County, is a 4.0 student.