The Steamboat Stampede U19 Girls Hockey Team won every tournament it entered this season. 

The team won the Aspen Fall Face-Off, its home Adele “Mountain Diva” tournament, the Martin Luther King Jr. Tournament and, most importantly, the U19 State Championships. 

The girls won or tied every league game they played this season, save one exhibition loss, granting them the highest seed in the state tournament and a first-round bye. 

The Stampede opened the championship tournament with a 4-0 victory over Telluride on Friday, then following up with a 6-2 win over Aspen on Saturday in the double-elimination competition. 

“Those were the two best games the girls played all season,” said U19 head coach Kerry Shea. “They peaked right at the right time and were playing their best hockey.” 

The girls took that momentum into the state championship game Sunday night at River City Sportplex in Grand Junction. The Aspen girls crawled their way out of the loser’s bracket to have a second chance at beating Steamboat and securing the state title. Already tallying a loss, Aspen would have had to defeat Steamboat twice.

The Stampede dominated the opening period, taking 13 shots on goal with two slipping by the Aspen goaltender off the sticks of Steamboat’s Megan Boos and Claire Shea. 

Steamboat’s Taylor Bennett added to the tally in the second period with two goals of her own, making it 4-0. 

Aspen came out firing in the third period, scoring three consecutive goals to tighten the score — but any remaining attack would be halted by the Stampede defense and goalie Audrey Becker. In the final minutes, Aspen’s last hope was to pull its goalie and add an extra skater on the ice. 

Steamboat capitalized on the empty net, scoring two more goals to finish things off and win 6-3. 

This is the fourth state title for the U19 Stampede Girls in the last five seasons. Coach Shea said the success can be attributed to the connection the girls have created over many seasons competing with each other. 

“These girls have been playing together for six years,” he said. “They’ve put in the time and have been working hard in season and out of season. We’ve been super-blessed with them sticking with the sport.” 

The Stampede will have a majority of returning players next season with only three seniors on the roster this year — Bennett, Eme Bruski and Violet O’Connell. 

Coach Shea said this year’s U19 team played a huge role in mentorship for the younger hockey players. He was impressed by the ways they have inspired and motivated the Stampede’s rising stars to commit to the game. 

“Wins or losses, banners or not, to see where the program is headed and to see that level of interaction and excitement through the foundational level makes me really excited about the future,” he said. “We feel really confident these girls who are graduating out are leaving the program in a better state than they entered in.”