MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury Amateur Hockey Association Under-14 girls’ hockey team won the Vermont championship on Saturday to highlight a busy weekend at Middlebury’s Memorial Sports Center.
The sports center hosted the second annual Vermont State Amateur Hockey Association Championship Weekend from Friday through Sunday, an event that included 30 teams playing in 15 championship games for skaters between the ages of 8 and 18.
The teams had played a collective 206 games to qualify for the finals in a new format that VSAHA adopted for the 2012-2013 season. This season the Memorial Sports Center hosted what officials said was a profitable weekend for the rink.
The MAHA U-14 girls were the only local team to make the finals, and on Saturday afternoon they faced a Rutland team that Middlebury Coach Mark Gleason said was a familiar and tough foe, winning by 1-0. Andi Boe’s shorthanded goal proved to be the game-winner.
“It was a great game against a team we played four times this year already, and all were close games,” Gleason said.
The other members of the team who skated this past weekend were Anna Igler, Abby Gleason, Katie Billings, Jesse Hounchell, Tulley Hescock, Raven Payne, Georgina Mraz, Satchel McLaughlin, Polly Heminway, Justine Smith and Helen Anderson.
Shelley Payne, Scott Smith and Devin McLaughlin assisted Gleason.
The MAHA girls qualified to compete in the New England regional tournament in Maine on March 21 through 23.