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Two Tri-Valley Blue Devils hockey teams traveled out of state over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend and returned home with the tournament titles.
The Blue Devils High School Division 3 (HS-D3) squad fought hard during the Crossroads Tournament in Chicago and clinched the title in an overtime thriller, with the championship-winning goal scored by tourney MVP Tyler Love.
And in younger action, the Blue Devils 12U-BB-1 team traveled to Littleton, Colorado and captured the 2018 LHA Slapshot Tournament, which featured teams from California, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah.
Blue Devils HS-D3
The Tri-Valley teens opened the Chicago tournament with a hard-fought 5-4 win against the Brother Rice Crusaders, followed by a 7-1 blowout victory over the Plainfield varsity team.
Their final game of round-robin play proved to be their toughest of the weekend, a tight 3-2 win over the Marist Redhawks, according to head coach Bryon McDougall.
“The toughest game of the weekend was against the Marist Redhawks,” McDougall said. “After we took a three-goal lead in the first period, Marist won both the second and third periods but could not get the (final) goal in overtime.”
That tally, 3-2, would become a theme for the Blue Devils throughout the tournament.
In the semifinals, they notched a 3-2 overtime win against the AWFM Renegades JV team. Tri-Valley had the lead late but gave it up with less than a minute in regulation and the Renegades skating 6-on-5.
Love scored top-shelf about one minute into the 3-on-3 overtime period to give the Blue Devils the win and a spot in the championship.
There, the Blue Devils met the Redhawks again — in what would be another overtime game, fittingly ending 3-2.
The Tri-Valley teens got on the board first with a goal in the first period, during which they outshot Marist 16-2. But the Redhawks fought back and scored the next two goals to give themselves a 2-1 lead in the third period.
Lucas Belling came through with the game-tying goal for the Blue Devils with less than five minutes left in regulation. And then in overtime, Love sealed the deal with another game-winner — this one to clinch the championship.
The victory marked the HS-D3 team’s third tournament title so far this season, on top of the Fun in the Sun Tournament in San Diego and the Bellarmine College Prep competition in San Jose.
In addition to Love and Belling, the team consists of Evelyn Andrade, Pranav Chandra, Brett Ciraulo, Travis Denton, Caleb Fisher, Ben Gee, Humza Ghaznavi, Ryan Greenberg, Alex Johnson, Brian Kim, Jay Long, Brandon McDougall, Addison Miller, Ryan Ritter, David Straub, Tucker Vonderach, Tyler Weinhagen, Spencer Zeleny and Mark Zhao.
Rounding out coach McDougall’s staff are assistants Craig Denton, Kenton Gee and Eric Weinhagen.
Blue Devils 12U-BB-1
Competing in the 2018 LHA Slapshot Tournament south of Denver on the holiday weekend, the Tri-Valley kids advanced out of round-robin play after two wins and two ties.
In their opener, the Blue Devils erased an early 2-0 deficit to secure a 3-3 tie against the Boulder Bison. The next game was also a tie, a back-and-forth contest against the Littleton Hawks that finished 4-4.
Their next game as a blowout win 11-2 against the Colorado Jr. Eagles, setting the stage for a win-or-go-home scenario in the final round-robin game. And the Blue Devils prevailed, a 6-4 win over Denver Country Club.
The semifinals set up a rematch with the Boulder Bison. This time Tri-Valley got the win, a comfortable 5-2 victory to earn a spot in the championship.
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the title game against the Casper Oilers. The Wyoming squad then scored to pull to within 2-1 before a late second-period goal pushed the Blue Devils’ lead to 3-1. A scoreless final frame solidified the tournament championship.
“I was extremely proud of how hard our players played this weekend. They believed in themselves and wanted to take home the banner and that’s exactly what they did. Every member of the team contributed to the victory,” Blue Devils head coach Dustin Van Fleet said.
The team consists of forwards Sofia Pittis, Austin Luciani, Nolan Moore, Jake Powers, Kory Self, Kai Sprague, DJ Van Fleet and Jackson Gao; defensemen Jonathan Adrian, Cameron Candelaria, Jakob King and Tony Yu; and goaltender Kaleb Mann (tournament MVP). The coaching staff also features Joe Powers and Jeremy Mann.
