The weekend of March 3-5 marked the Girls U19 AA Colorado State Championships and the Lady Jr Tigers were to meet the Colorado Selects for not only the State Championship, but the opportunity to travel to USA Hockey Regionals two weeks later in Phoenix, AZ.

Game one on Friday night saw the Tigers jump out to an early lead six minutes in with an even strength goal by Melian Haberl. The lead was short-lived as the Selects tied it at one just over a  minute later. The second period say the Tigers once again gain a one goal advantage with Lily Tiefel’s redirect past the Selects goaltender. However, once again the Selects battled back and scored two goals to take the 3-2 lead into the locker rooms following the second period.

The third period was another hard fought period and the score remained 3-2 until Jordan Wilson tied the game with six minutes remaining in regulation. As the horn sounded, the teams remained deadlocked at three heading to OT. Knowing if games went into OT, the format would be 4-4, the Lady Tigers has prepared all week at practice with 4-4 play and were ready and excited for OT.  Starting the OT down a player, as the Lady Tigers had to kill off the remaining 30 seconds of a late 3rd period penalty, once at even 4-4 strength, the Lady Tigers showed their preparation and controlled OT. As the 1st OT period was winding down, Hope Lambert converted a one timer off a pass from Jordan Wilson and put it past the Selects goalie to seal the win.

Game two was Saturday afternoon, and you could fell the Lady Tigers confidence and desire to end the Championship, not wanting to come back and play game three on Sunday.  Through three hard-fought periods, neither team could put the puck past the opposing goaltender and once again, the teams were headed for OT.  Once again the Lady Tigers were ready and excited to play the OT period. With chances for both teams in OT, the Lady Tigers sealed the victory when McKenzie Dudevoir received a pass off an offensive zone face off and put a shot on net through traffic provided by a Hailey Boyle screen in front. The puck found the back of the net and the Lady Tigers took home the shutout victory for goaltender Katy Cooley, State Championship, and a trip to Phoenix.

March 17-19 will be the Regional Championship with the Lady Tigers will face Utah, Phoenix, and the Idaho Roughriders.