For eight months, Riley Arena in Cody becomes a winter wonderland.  

The ice rink is used for many things like figure skating, free skates and is home to many birthday parties. It’s also home to a successful hockey program. 

The Park County Youth Hockey program, the Yellowstone Yeti, is wide ranging and inclusive, offering age divisions from 6-14 years old, a high school team which consists of ages 15-18, as well as a girls’ 19U team. 

From Feb. 28-March 2, Cody hosted the High School State Championship, which brought in teams from all across the state. 

The Yellowstone Yeti was able to secure a fourth-place finish after many hard-fought battles throughout the weekend in the “B” tournament, thanks in part to Powell players Cash Ashcraft, Jace Harris, Tucker Robinson and Alexander Clark. 

Strong beginnings

Some of the Powell players brought a lot of experience into the season. 

“I’ve been playing hockey since I was about 6 years old,” Ashcraft said.

Following the tournament the Powell teen was also one of two Yeti players to be selected for Wyoming Amateur All-State where he will be playing defense.Grady Perry, of Cody was also selected as a forward.

Ashcraft was encouraged to play hockey by his kindergarten teacher at Southside Elementary School, Patrick  D’Alessandro. The Powell teacher is also a coach for the Yeti and brought flyers to his students to try and gain involvement in the 6U division. From there, Ashcraft could not imagine a life without hockey in it.  

Ashcraft’s childhood was not the only one based around hockey. 

“I grew up in Canada, so I’ve been playing hockey since like 3,” Clark said. “When I moved here, I started playing for the Yetis, so I’ve been playing for them for three years.”

Harris’ hockey career also began outside of Park County. He played in Riverton for six years before joining the Yeti. 

“When I started playing hockey it just kind of came upon me … and my friends were playing,” Harris said. “I wanted to give it a try, and ended up falling in love with the sport.” 

Robinson was inspired by his cousin to join the Yeti seven years ago, and still plays alongside him today. 

Team bond and moving forward

The Yeti players have a strong friendship, both on and off the ice. 

“We have a really strong bond,” Harris said. “We know each other very well, and we’re all friends with each other, but sure we razz on each other all the time.” 

The team comes together to make the best of every situation. They are led by Captain Jackson Asay and Assistant Captain Macix Rothleutner, both of Cody.  

“They keep everybody in check, keep everybody’s heads up and just lead the team,” said Clark. 

Carpooling is a very useful tool for the Powell players. The players often share rides to the ice rink.

“Kids who can’t drive from Powell, we go and pick them up,” Ashcraft said. “Then we just all carpool over to practice.” 

Practices are intense but have very good outcomes. 

“We practice Monday and Wednesday,” Ashcraft said. “Then the next week we practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.”   

The team is led through many drills and power plays by their coaches JW Robinson, Andy Clark, and Nick Harris. 

“Normally, we get to warm up, and shoot around. Then we’ll do a warm-up drill to get the feet going … and passing going,” Robinson said. “Then we’ll typically work on our breakouts and power plays … then we get new drills every other week, sometimes we do old ones too. It’s nice to have a new drill every practice.” 

All of these breakouts, drills, and warm-ups prepared the Yeti for the state tournament. 

The final tournament 

The Yeti opened the tournament Feb. 28 against the Fremont Freeze from Riverton. 

The rink was packed with spectators and, most importantly, fans from each team. 

“They hadn’t had any practice time for a while,” Robinson said, adding, “They didn’t get ice til like middle of the season… we came in there not thinking too much, and they whooped us.” 

The Yellowstone players had to put aside their frustration to face off against their next opponent, the Gillette Grizzlies. The Yeti came away with the win. 

“That one, Gillette definitely was really fighting for it,” Robinson said. “But we had a loss under us, and we just wanted it more. But overall, it was a very physical and intense game.” 

The next game was a very physical one, against the Sheridan Hawks. 

Aside from playing a competitive team, the Yeti also played against many of their friends from Team Wyoming — the state hockey team that many throughout the state try out to be a part of. 

“We ended up getting the win on that one, but it was a very intense physical game,” Robinson said. “We all enjoyed it, and even talked to the Sheridan kids afterwards.” 

The win put the Yeti in the running for a third-place finish. 

Yellowstone played the Rock Springs Miners on March 2 for the final game of the season. Although the Yeti brought the intensity, they lost once again to the tough opponent to finish fourth. 

“Earlier in the season, we didn’t win against them, but ya know, we brought the intensity,” Robinson said. “We had the intensity, but it was more in the third period instead of the first two … it was overall kind of a physical game, with lots of penalties.”