Alaska
Youth hockey teams will represent Alaska at national championship tournaments
Earlier this year, a trio of Alaska youth hockey teams advanced to the 2026 Chipotle-USA Hockey National Championship tournament for their respective classifications, and this week they’ll take the ice with hopes of bringing home some more hardware.
The Team Alaska program is sending a couple of teams to nationals with the 16U Tier 1 girls squad heading to Buffalo, New York, to compete with the top 16 teams while the 18U Tier 1 boys team will be among the top 16 heading to Las Vegas, Nevada. Both tournaments got underway Tuesday and run through Sunday.
Both teams notched notable victories in their regional tournaments. The 16U girls team hoisted the trophy in the 2026 Girls Pacific District Regional Tournament last month, with games played at the Kelley Create Ice Center and Ben Boeke Ice Arena in Anchorage. With a 2-0 victory over the visiting Seattle Jr. Thunderbirds, they clinched the first Girls Tier 1 championship since the program formed three years ago.
Svea Dorman scored the first goal with 3:22 left in the second period off of assists from Ayla-Marie Sanders and Lilly Kettenacker. At the 13:15 mark in the third period, Kettenacker bagged an insurance goal thanks to assists from Dorman and Alexa Williams. Between the pipes, goaltender Madelynn Derleth recorded 19 saves to secure the shutout.
The Boys Tier 1 Pacific District Regional Tournament was held in San Jose, California, from Feb. 26 through March 1. All five Alaska teams advanced to the regional title games, marking the first time that had happened in the same season in state youth hockey history.
The 18U Tier 1 team became the first Alaska squad to win the regional title in that division since the Alaska Jr. Aces in 2013. They faced off against the Anaheim Jr. Ducks and prevailed 4-3 in an overtime thriller that took a shootout to decide. After digging themselves out of an early 2-0 hole, Team Alaska rallied to tie the game at 3-3 with 36.8 seconds left in the third period.
Dawson Norene found the back of the net via the top corner for the game-tying goal off an assist by Reid Carlson. After a scoreless overtime period, the teams competed in a three-man shootout. Toby Jones scored the lone goal to give Team Alaska the win, and goaltender Keagon O’Bryan helped bring it home by denying all three of the Jr. Ducks’ attempts.
Coming off being crowned the 2025-26 18U Tier 2 Alaska state hockey champions, the Alaska Oilers will travel to West Chester, Pennsylvania. They will be competing in the Youth Tier II 18U tourney on the Ice Line Quad Rinks with action running from Wednesday through Sunday.
On the Tier 2 girls side, the following teams will be competing in nationals as well from Wednesday through Sunday: Fairbanks Arctic Lions and Alaska All Stars in the 19U division in Rockland, Massachusetts, and the 16U Alaska All Stars in St. Louis, Missouri.