Yeti go 1 and 2 at state

At the end of a back-and-forth affair it was the Yellowstone Yeti Maroon squad edging the Yeti Black 13-11 to take the title.

“It was a battle,” Yeti Black coach Brian McGonagle said. “We have a peewee team that plays full ice, and then we have the squirt teams who play half ice and we split them up as close to even as possible.”

The smaller, speedier Black team was made up of mostly younger and first-year players, while the Maroon team featured some more experienced athletes.

“A lot of the kids on my team will get a chance to win next year,” McGonagle said. “They are not done at this level.”

The Yeti Black team took down Sheridan White 18-4 and Sheridan Gold on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s title game.

The Yeti Maroon squad took down Gillette White 16-4 and Gillette Black 9-6 to earn a spot in the championship.

“We all practice together every Monday and Wednesday, so it was kind of a win-win situation,” McGonagle said. “It was fun watching the teams compete and play hard.”

Both teams had leads throughout the matchup, but late in the final period and down a goal, the Yeti Maroon found the back of the net three times in three minutes to get the lead back and secure the win.

It was evident how both teams made the title game with as each displayed solid skills on the ice.

“We work on just skating for a half an hour, maybe 45 minutes each practice.” McGonagle said. “We have good skating teams, that’s how we are able to get two teams in the championship game.”

The 10U teams will now combine and go play in a full ice tournament later this month in Casper and face off against teams from Colorado and Montana.

“I think combined in a full ice tournament we should do pretty well,” McGonagle said. “And while some of the kids were pretty disappointed in the outcome on Sunday, I thought it was a blast, it was a close game and we gave them a run for their money. The high school coach was there and said that was the funnest game he had watched all year.”