The Dimond-West girls hockey team had plenty on the line Saturday afternoon at Ben Boeke Arena.
The team had won three straight state titles and owned a 40-game winning streak that extended back more than two years.
But Dimond-West found itself in an early 2-0 hole against a scrappy Fairbanks club early in the state championship game.
Dimond-West battled back, and Avery Keim’s goal with just 1 minute, 34 seconds remaining in the third period vaulted the team to a 3-2 win and its fourth straight title.
“That was a heck of a game,” Dimond-West head coach Brian Gross said. “We’re very excited. You couldn’t have asked for a better championship game.”
Gross called the championship game the toughest any of his teams have had during the four-peat and the first one in which they trailed by multiple goals.
“I tell them, one of the hallmarks of being a champion is being able to come from behind,” he said. “So they just were resilient and they kept fighting and, a little at a time, found a way to catch up and get the game winner.”
Fairbanks looked like the quicker team early, controlling the puck and getting better quality chances.
Less than four minutes into the game, they earned a 1-0 lead on a deflection from Riley Griffeth in front of the net with assists going to Grayson Davis and Grace Spencer.
Less than two minutes later, Griffeth struck again, this time grabbing the puck and poking it in after some handiwork from Davis in front of the net.
Dimond-West managed to make a dent in the Fairbanks lead late in the first period as Hailey Murray scored with an assist from Harper Forbes.
Neither team could find the net in the second period despite both having quality chances.
Fairbanks had a 5-on-3 power play but couldn’t convert and Dimond-West closed out the period with a power play that was also fruitless.
With just 6:39 left on the clock, Dimond-West knotted the game as Molly Sillers scored on a nice pass from Sienna Kowal. Sillers poked it past Fairbanks goalie McKinley Linton in transition to tie the game at 2-2.
“Typically I play defense, but I was caught up there and going down with Sienna and she got it to me right off the stick and it went in,” Sillers said.
That set up the game-winner by Keim, who scored it unassisted on a goal that was deflected in traffic and fluttered before finding the net.
“Sometimes the puck has eyes on it, and it finds its way through and towards the net,” Gross said. “You never know what can happen.”
Keim said the expectations are always high for the team and she knew this would be their toughest challenge in recent history.
“Today was especially scary, because I recognize a lot of the Fairbanks girls and I know they’re a really strong team,” Keim said. “They still could have had that game, but I think we wanted it more. It is a lot of pressure, and it was cool to have a big crowd.”
The game has continued to expand geographically in the state. Aside from the Fairbanks team, there are teams from the Kenai Peninsula, Wasilla-Houston and Palmer-Colony as well as a number of Anchorage-area schools. Gross said Juneau may be able to field a full team next year.
“We’re always trying to grow the game,” he said. “It’s exciting. We want it to be statewide.”
Keim said her comp team watches women’s college games when they travel to the Lower 48 and have followed the upstart Professional Women’s Hockey League, now in its second season.
Gross said the team has been led by a strong group of seniors. Keim pointed out that leadership was especially helpful when the team was down 2-0.
“Our senior captains and our senior goalie have been great leading us and showing up every day,” she said.
Linton finished with 20 saves for Fairbanks, and her Dimond-West counterpart Siena Lardizabal had 23.