A seed planted a decade ago with the forming of the Davis County Youth Hockey Association has blossomed into the best team in the state, and, hopefully, a national competitor.
Earlier this month, the Davis County Golden Eagles U18AA hockey team defeated the Northwest Regulators 8-1 to win the Utah state championship. Their reward will be the opportunity to represent Utah in the USA Hockey U-18 national championship tournament in Lansing, Mich., on March 28.
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Big game » 5A girls basketball championship at Salt Lake Community College, Feb. 25, 1 p.m. Four Region 1 teams will attempt to make it to the championship game Saturday. Syracuse, the tournament favorite, will try for its third trip in a row after winning in 2010 and falling to Alta in 2011.
Big player » Preston Christiansen, Northridge boys basketball. The junior guard continued his heroics last Friday, leading Northridge with 17 points in a 53-45 victory over Weber to clinch the Region 1 title. In a game earlier this year against Weber, Christiansen hit the game winner at the buzzer that began the Knights’ six game winning streak.
Big number » 9. Though Viewmont wasn’t able to claim the state wrestling championship this year, the team vastly improved from a year ago. The Vikings’ second-place performance at state was nine spots higher than they finished in 2011.
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It’s an accomplishment that still amazes coach Tim Bergquist. The Bountiful native has coached the team since the inception of the association in 2001.
"When we got as far as we did, we were almost surprised," Bergquist said. "We knew coming in that the teams would be good, but when you started winning some games, we knew we could compete at that level."
"You have a bit of an inferiority complex coming out of Utah because there’s not a lot that comes out of here," Bergquist added, "but it’s certainly getting better all over the state."
It’s been a long road to the championships. The Golden Eagles competed in tournaments this year in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, and represented Utah in the U-16AA tournament the past two years. In 2011, they went further than a Utah team has ever gone, reaching the quarterfinals.
Team captain P.J. Tanner rates the experience as one of the most important in his life. Tanner took up hockey at a young age, following in the skates of his mother, Holly Cook Tanner, a bronze medalist at the World Championships in 1990.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Tanner said. "It was cool see it all develop and see how well we played against teams that have played at such high levels. We came in prepared and were able to compete."
Bergquist said that he allowed the team to set its own personal goal this year, and was not surprised to hear the goal was to win the national championship. The Golden Eagles have the talent to back it up, with five of the top 10 scorers in Utah high school hockey on the squad.
"Our discipline this year is the difference," Tanner said. "We’re cutting out costly mistakes. That’s what separates us this year from last year."
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