“Great moments are born from great opportunities.”

– Herb Brooks, from the movie Miracle

 

The Park County Lady Ice Cats won it all – again.

The team walked into the state tournament in Cody with an undefeated regular season and continued to win every game at state, including the championship game March 4.

The team consisted of 12 girls, with assistant captain and NWC student Sydnie Torczon, goalie Kayla Kolpitcke and team captain Lauren Asher, all from Powell.

Kolpitcke, Asher and Jessica Shankle also earned All-State for the A bracket.

Kolpitcke faced 122 shots throughout the weekend and only nine got past her, giving her the highest save percentage in the whole tournament. The Ice Cats scored a total of 28 goals; Shankle led the team with 21 points and Asher followed with 20.

“I think the reason our team is so strong is because we are all so close,” Kolpitcke said. “We all get along really well and we all protect each other. We all think of each other as a family and that improves our playing on the ice”.

The Ice Cats played and defeated their biggest rival, the Casper Oilers, both Saturday night and Sunday morning.

“Going into the game, I knew we could do it but it was a very intense and a mentally challenging game.” Kolpitcke said. “Beating them was great. Just being able to see the defeat on their faces in the first period. Even they knew we were going to win”.

Head coach Angie Johnson trained the girls hard throughout the season with three sets of conditioning sessions every practice, one at the beginning, middle, and end; she also focused on the mental side of the game.

“It was all about mentally preparing the team,” said Johnson. “I talked about what a champion is and how to be a champion. I talked about playing this game the same as the other [games], shift by shift, goal by goal, and period by period.”\

Mentality is a huge focus for the Lady Ice Cats. Their positive attitudes and hard work allowed them to win every game of the season.

“I am blessed to have the opportunity to coach such a dedicated, determined, caring group of athletes,” said Johnson.

The Ice Cats are losing three players and their three captains, Torczon and seniors Asher and Shankle. Although playing their last hockey game was a sad day, there wasn’t a better way to finish out their careers.

The Park County Lady Ice Cats are the only team in Wyoming to have won so many state championships with a total of five wins, the last four wins consecutively.

“It was incredible” Kolpitcke said. “I’m very proud of my team because we were able to do what no other girls hockey team in Wyoming has ever done”.