The Richland Rangers 19U junior gold girls team made hockey history for the Ranger squad Sunday by winning the North Dakota Amateur Hockey Association state championship title in Fargo, N.D.

The Rangers beat top-ranked rival team and last year’s state title winner Crosby Comets by a hard fought 2-1 margin. “Coach Damon (McLaughlin) and I couldn’t be more pleased with the girls’ performance this weekend. Every single one of them stepped up their performance, both physically and mentally. The beautiful thing about hockey is it not only takes an extreme amount of physical ability and skill, but even more mental toughness. It’s a difficult task to achieve, and these ladies accomplished what they set out to do from the beginning of the season,” Coach Sara Berndt said.

The rivalry between the Rangers and the Comets has been a longstanding one. But after a heart-wrenching loss last year in the state title match-up, and the only two league losses to the Comets in this year’s 10-2 league record, the Rangers were set to reach their goal of winning the state title. The game remained scoreless through the first period in an even match-up on the ice. The usually physical game between the two squads had no penalties through the period. “Both teams were focused and moving the puck both ways on the ice. Neither team really had the advantage,” added Berndt. The Rangers had eight shots on goal. Ranger goaltender Katlin McLaughlin had five saves through the period.

“I think we stepped up our game in the second. Each period brings a certain amount of urgency to put a number on the board. When you work so hard to move and keep the puck in the offensive zone; every pass, every shot, every save and every penalty becomes important.”

Richland’s Ashley Bjork was the first to put the puck in the net on a Ranger power play on a pass in front of the net from Abby Balcer at 3:55 into the period. The momentum continued to favor the Rangers at the 6:19 mark when junior Brittany Johnson scored on a pass from Maci Holst. The period ended with a 2-0 Ranger lead.

The third period was a back and forth battle between the Rangers and the Comets, with both teams battling to control the puck long enough in their offensive zones to put the puck in the net. “Our defensive strategy was a bit more conservative in the third, and we relied on icing the puck if we were in any trouble at all,” added Berndt. The game remained scoreless until the final two minutes of play when Crosby scored their only goal of the game. The Comets pulled their goalie and added an extra attacker in the final minute of the game, while Sidney had a penalty. The game ended with a Crosby six skater versus four skater advantage. McLaughlin finished with 21 saves.