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KALAMAZOO, Mich. – South Dakota’s team of 14-and-under hockey players defeated the Alaska Oilers 6-3 to win the 2022 USA Hockey Tier II 14U National Championship Monday in Kalamazoo. It marks the first national championship for a 14U team from South Dakota.

The team, which included four players from Aberdeen, won five of its six games in the tournament, culminating in Monday’s championship victory.

Team South Dakota (Team SD) struck first again, just as it had in every game of the tournament. With 9:49 remaining in the first period, Rapid City forward Cameron Ritter scored on a feed from Pierre forward Carter Sanderson to put Team SD up 1-0.

“We battled hard that first shift, and I think it was the third or fourth shift (when) we got a break,” Ritter recalled. “Sanderson passed it to me back door, and I just backhanded it into the top of the net.”

Later in the first, Sanderson ripped a shot off the crossbar that dropped in the blue paint behind the Oilers goalie, where Aberdeen forward Carson Myhre knocked it in to give Team SD a two-goal lead.

“It feels great, it was a great group of kids; I don’t think we could’ve done it with any other group of kids,” Myhre said. “They were awesome. Everyone worked together and we got it done for South Dakota.”

Alaska answered just 20 seconds into the second period, and then again with 5:15 remaining to tie the game 2-2. But Team SD regained the lead with 32 seconds left in the period, as Ritter found the short side of the net. Team SD went into the locker room holding a narrow 3-2 lead.

Team SD came out strong in the third, with Myhre scoring at 13:29 to extend the lead back to two. But the Oilers wouldn’t go away, tipping in a goal with 6:44 remaining to pull within one.

For the rest of the game, solid defense by Beckett Rothrock of Sioux Falls and Jaxson Danielson of Aberdeen held the Oilers in check.

“We all played the best we could, just a group of people trying to go to a common goal,” Rothrock said. “Everyone went all-in; that’s what happens when everyone works together to do something great.”

Aberdeen goalie Carson Hundstad was solid in net like he was all tournament. He finished with three victories in the five-day event.

Members of the Aberdeen Cougars who played on the South Dakota team were Myhre, Danielson, Hundstad and Lleyton Kleffman.

Later in the period, Team SD showed the kind of offense it had displayed all tournament. With 5:21 remaining Rapid City Forward Colton Merchen scored on a pass from Brookings forward Riley Linstad to extend Team SD’s lead back to two.

As time slipped away the Oilers pulled their goalie, and with 52 seconds to go, Sanderson pumped in an empty-net goal to seal the win.

“I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group of guys. It feels great to be able to represent South Dakota this well,” Sanderson said. “I’m just waiting to get back and celebrate with everybody else.”

Merchen spoke about the team’s approach to the tournament and the championship game.

“Throughout this tournament, during the games, there were a lot of highs and a lot of lows. You’ve just got to learn to find that happy medium to fight through both of them,” he said. “You can’t get too satisfied until you’re done with the whole tournament. I feel like we did a pretty good job of that – managing the lows and celebrating the highs, but not celebrating too hard until the end.”