The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
All four teams reach finals
It was an all out Gunnison Valley assault on the Mountain States Girls Hockey League state tournament last weekend. Four local Gunnison Blades teams from the U-12 to the U-19 age bracket traveled to Denver for the big show February 24-26 and came back with one title and three second place finishes.
The U-12 squad led the charge outscoring their opponents 22-5 to rattle off five straight wins and take the state title. Rachael Potoker was the leading scorer of the tournament and was named to the all-tournament team with nine goals and four assists. Izzy Dethloff added in three goals and an assist.
The U-14 Blades started out hot beating Aspen 2-0 on Friday and Durango 9-2 on Saturday but ran into a wall against Arvada losing to them 2-1 on Saturday and then again in the finals on Sunday to finish in second place. Hailey Pike got the lone goal for Gunnison in the championship game and led all scorers that weekend with three goals and five assists. Ryan Carroll and Madi Lambert were also named all-tournament players.
The U-16 squad rallied through games on Friday and Saturday, winning all three to advance to the finals and face Aspen. While the Blades won the first time the two teams met on Saturday, Aspen exacted revenge to take the state title with a 3-1 win over Gunnison. Marissa Lambert led the Gunnison team in scoring on the weekend with three goals and one assist.
It was a different run for the U-19 Blades team at the state tournament. After winning their first game against the Colorado Jr. Eagles 3-1, they fell to Steamboat 3-1 and Aspen 1-0 on Saturday. The points were totaled up and the Blades earned a spot in the finals for a rematch with the undefeated Steamboat team.
Goals by Jessie D’Aquila and Lambert gave the Blades a 2-1 lead at the end of two periods but Steamboat came back to score two goals in the third period to edge out a 3-2 win over Gunnison.
