The Park County Ice Cats bantam team won the state B championship earlier this month.

On March 7 they defeated the Casper Oilers B team 8-3, and the Rock Springs Miners 6-3. They clinched the title by beating Rock Springs again 6-2 on March 8. 

Head coach Jeff Harris said his team peaked at the perfect time. The Ice Cats went 7-8-1 in league play, Harris said, but stepped it up for the state tourney.

“It took a while for the kids to understand game plans and how to play as a team but as the season progressed they got better,” he said. “They practiced well and played games well.”

In the first tourney game, Jack Harris opened the scoring for the Ice Cats with an unassisted goal 4:23 into the action. He scored twice more in the game to earn a hat trick.

Jessica Shankle scored at the 9:07 mark on an assist from Kirwin Johnson to make it 2-0 and Robert “Rob-O” Sessions scored on feeds from Rhett Pimentel and Shankle at the 9:25 mark to make it 3-0.

Harris netted his second goal with 13:18 gone on assists from Lauren Asher and Russell Keegan and Sessions, on a pass from Ryan Kolpitcke, made it 5-0 at the 15:07 mark.

Chad Bila, on a feed from Matthew Cordova at the 5:38 mark, scored for the Oilers in the second period but Harris earned his hat trick at 14:22 thanks to passes from Keegan and Harriett Pimentel.

With 11:05 gone in the third period, Rhett Pimentel netted the seventh Ice Cat goal on feeds from Asher and Johnson. Shankle found the net at 11:33 into the period on a feed from Jackson Golden to make it 8-1.

Bila scored unassisted at 15:27 and Casper’s Bryce Miller, on feeds from Tyler Weiser, Billy Josh Liska, had the game’s final goal at the 15:44 mark.

Kayla Kolpitcke played 43 minutes in goal and stopped 13 of 14 shots to earn the win. Cole Crawford stopped 25 of 27 shots.

Bradley Liska took the loss, allowing eight of the 17 shots on goal to score.

In game two, Asher scored on a power play on a pass from Keegan with 4:30 gone in the first period. Harris scored unassisted at the 9:50 mark to make it 2-0 and Keegan followed 40 seconds later on feeds from Asher and Harriett Pimentel to once again give the Ice Cats a quick lead.

Caden Haskins scored for the Miners at the 11:01 mark on a pass from Parker Jones.

Noah Wilson had the next Ice Cats goal with 6:14 gone in the second. Golden had the assist.

Jones scored unassisted at the 10:34 mark to make it 4-2 and the Miners’ Matthew Seymour had a rare unassisted short-handed goal at 13:41 to make it 4-3.

Wilson answered with 6:25 gone in the final period on feeds from Golden and Harriett Pimentel and Shankle scored unassisted 17 seconds later to wrap the game up.

Crawford went the route in goal, stopping 22 of 25 shots for the win. Justin Morgan stopped 30 of 36 for the Miners to absorb the loss.

In Sunday’s title game, the Ice Cats once again pounced as Harris scored on a feed from Asher with just 1:33 wiped from the clock.

Lane Hutchison, on a feed from Seymour, scored with 6:21 gone in the first to tie it up for Rock Springs. But Harris, who led all Ice Cat scorers with eight goals and eight points, had the reply at the 14:03 mark on a feed from Darron Nash.

With 7:14 gone in the second, Harris took another pass from Nash and found the net for his second hat trick in two days. He scored his fourth goal of the game 14 seconds later, this time on a feed from Asher, who paced all Ice Cats with five assists.

“He’s our goal-scorer, kind of our go-to guy,” coach Harris said of his son and leading scorer. “He’s really driven. He doesn’t care to get the glory or being the spotlight, he wants to win.”

Jack Harris, Asher and Keegan formed a strong line, coach Harris said.

“Those three, probably the last three weeks of the season, they worked hard and they performed at the right time for us,” he said.

Seymour, on a pass from Hutchison, scored at the 8:12 mark to make it 4-2.

The tourney’s final period was all Ice Cats, as Keegan scored unassisted at the 9:23 mark and Shankle scored with 11:14 gone on a feed from Chance Rinard.

Crawford went the distance in the net for the win, stopping 20 of 22 shots. Morgan once again took the loss, allowing six goals on 21 shots.

Six members of the team were from Powell, including three girls who played on the Ice Cats team that claimed the U19 girls title on Feb. 21-22.

The Powell hockey champions are: freshman Rhett Pimentel, eighth-grader Sessions and seventh-grader Ryan Kolpitcke and the three dual champions, freshmen Asher and Harriet “Hattie” Pimentel and seventh-grader Kolpitcke.

Shankle of Cody was the fourth girl on the 18-member squad.

“The four girls we have are great hockey players,” coach Harris said.

The bantams are mostly 13- and 14-year-olds who compete in the Wyoming Amateur Hockey League. The Ice Cats won the B state title in a division which consisted of six teams: Park County, Rock Springs, Casper B, Pinedale, Laramie and Riverton.