Fairbanks Dark is the current Alaska State Girls High School Champion title holders. They snatched the glorious title from Dimond West in the last game of the tournament.

After the loss, senior at West Sarah Peters, defenseman said, “I thought we had the chance to win. It was disappointing to lose, but Fairbanks earned it. I hope Dimond West can take home the win next year.”

January 29 was the first day of the Girls High School State games.

Six teams competed for the title of Alaska Girls Hockey State Champions.

The teams included were Service-East, South-Bartlett, Dimond-West, Chugiak-Eagle-River, Fairbanks White and Fairbanks Dark.

Each team played three games. There was no semi-finals, just three games then on to the championship game.

It was decided on points whether or not a team made it to the game. Every team had to really want it to make it to the championship game.

All the teams battled hard to make an attempt at making it to the final game which determined their title.

The last remaining teams were Dimond-West and Fairbanks Dark.

The captains are critical at this point in the season. They make the players work hard and play more as a team.

Before the tournament started senior at Dimond, and captain of Dimond-West, Kendra Robbins said, “ It was super fun being captain. But at times it could be a lot of pressure because you have to become a leader for your team and keep everyone motivated.

“My hopes for this team is to work hard and do the best we can in order to make it to the championships. I think we have a big chance. If the team plays the way I know we can, we have a chance to win the whole tournament.”

The championship game was held at Ben Boeke on January thirty first.

Before the game, sophomore at Dimond, and left wing on Dimond-West, Sydney Tomuro said, “I think we could win. We have a pretty solid team and we all have to drive to win.”

The two teams that competed for the title of State Champions are two teams that have worked hard the whole season. It was predicted that these two teams were going to be in the final game due to their skill and passion for the the game.

Right before the  game, junior at Dimond, and left wing on Dimond-West, Tami Surinam says, “It should be a close game, Fairbanks is a really good team and they have been playing together for a long time, but our team has come together and we have been playing pretty tough.”

On game day the rink was full of excitement. The national anthem played and then the puck dropped.

The game was close until three minutes were left in the second period. Gabi Gibson got scored on glove side, top right corner. Dimond-West started to play harder. The score was 1-0 Fairbanks Dark.

A minute and a half left over in the period and Dimond-West pulled their goalie. Six of their top players battled for the puck so they would have a chance at scoring.

Fairbanks Dark got the puck and made it past one of the Dimond-West defenders. The forward skated hard and shot the puck.

The Dimond-West defender, Sarah Peters, dived for the puck, but missed. With two seconds left Fairbanks Dark makes it 2-0 and wins the title.

Dimond-West came in second and Fairbanks Dark came in first. The excitement on the ice was very energetic for the Fairbanks team, but Dimond-West was pretty disappointed.

Overall, it was a good tournament and all the teams played their hearts out.