Five Shamrocks Named to NAHL's 2026 Top Prospects Tournament
NAHL Watertown Shamrocks

Five Shamrocks Named to NAHL's 2026 Top Prospects Tournament

Published on January 29, 2026 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Watertown Shamrocks News Release


Watertown, SD -- The North American Hockey League announced today the participants for this year's Top Prospects Tournament, including five Watertown Shamrocks players - Zach Boren, Joe Rice, Jordan Gudridge, Mason Gudridge, and Justin Bartley. Boren, Rice, and Jordan Gudridge have been named to Team Central for the 2026 league showcase, meanwhile Bartley and Mason Gudridge have been named to Team Selects White. For each of the players, it is their first time being nominated for the Top Prospects Tournament.

"We're thrilled that these five players have the opportunity to represent our organization at top prospects," said Shamrocks General Manager and Head Coach Casey Kirley. "We look forward to watching our players showcase their abilities at such a heavily scouted event." Boren is Watertown's leading scorer with 19 goals and 35 points. In his third full season in the North American Hockey League, the native of Devils Lake, ND has appeared in 129 games to date with 75 career points. He was recently named a team captain, along with Jordan Gudridge, by Kirley.

Jordan Gudridge is coming off a career best three-point game last Saturday against North Iowa with a goal and two assists. He is in his first season in Watertown after spending last year in the BCHL, 2023-24 with the Colorado Grit, and 2022-23 in the USHL with the Madison Capitols. In 29 games this year, he has sored four goals, to accompany his 13 assists.

Rice will be the lone Minnesota native representing Watertown at this year's tournament. He has set a new career high in assists this season with 16, and is nearing new career highs in goals and assists just beyond the mid-way point of the season. He has totaled 20 points in 32 games as an age-out forward this year.

Boren, Rice, and Jordan Gudridge will represent Watertown on the Central Division's team. For this year's showcase, the divisional teams are reserved for uncommitted, 2005 born skaters. The four divisional teams will each play two games against each other. The selects teams expand their roster limits to uncommitted players of any birth year to create three teams that will compete along with team USA's National Team Development Program U17 (USNTDP) squad.

Those four teams, like the divisional teams, will each play two games against each other.

Bartley has seen an uptick in productivity this season entering the season fully healthy. In 34 games, he has a pair of goals and 14 assists, both career bests, helping anchor the Shamrock's blue line.

Mason Gudridge will represent Watertown between the pipes, as one of team goaltenders for Team Selects White. In his past 14 starts, the younger Gudridge brother has a 10-3-0-1 record with a .937 save percentage, and 2.14 goals against average.

With five representatives, only three teams will be sending more players to this year's Top Prospects Tournament than Watertown. Last season, Watertown sent three skaters, Cam Markham, Ryan Gingher, and Owen Chartier to the showcase.

The 2026 NAHL Top Prospects Tournament will be held in Plymouth, MI at USA Hockey Arena on February 16-17. The schedule for Team Central and Team Selects White is listed below.

Team Central

Game 1: Central vs. East at 5:00 PM on Monday, February 16th

Game 2: Central vs. South at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, February 17th

Team Selects White

Game 1: Selects White vs. USNTDP at 7:15 PM on Monday, February 16th

Game 2: Selects White vs. Selects Red at 2:30 PM on Tuesday, February 17th

Check out the Watertown Shamrocks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



North American Hockey League Stories from January 29, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central