JDHS players get opportunity to skate with fellow girls in hockey tourney
- Klas Stolpe
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
Freshmen Winter Osterhout, Brook Taintor play at Girls State Championships
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé freshmen Winter Osterhout and Brook Taintor swapped their Crimson Bears uniforms for the attire of the Kodiak-Tok girls hockey team to play at the Anchorage Hockey Association’s fourth annual Girls High School State Championship Tournament at Anchorage’s Ben Boeke Ice Arena.
“What I enjoyed about the coaching Brooke and Winter is that they gave every last effort and were coachable,” Kodiak-Tok coach Aubrielle Champagne said. “When I explained the defensive zone structure they followed it to the T. I would take their effort and grit any day as a coach or college coach over a player that has the skill, but lacks the attitude and effort. They are the type of players I would want on my team. “
Prior AHA girls state hockey tournaments have been held during the Alaska School Activities Association’s Division II state championships so JDHS skaters opted to compete with their high school Crimson Bears. This year the tournament was held during the ASAA DI state championships.
“When I was asked to play I was happy to get more playing opportunities,” Taintor said. “I thought it was great to get to meet the girls from other towns because it was really cool to see the team coming together, and hopefully I can get to play with them again.”
Taintor and Osterhout joined the Kodiak-Tok team that included players from Delta, Kenai, Kenny Lake, Kodiak, Soldotna, Tok and Utqiagvik - all communities that did not have enough players to field a full girls team. Their uniforms were donated by and displayed the colors of the Interior Alaska Heat hockey club.
“It was interesting yet scary, because we did not all come from the same background with the same amount of playing time,” Osterhout said. “Yet, we were all friendly together and having a good time...It was nice of Kodiak to ask us to play with them with such short notice.”
The Kodiak-Tok name was chosen as head coach Champagne is from Tok and co-head coach Josh McCarthy from Kodiak. Champagne is a 2016 Tok graduate and played goalie for the Alaska All Stars and at Northland College and the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
“For me it is developing girls hockey and seeing the appreciation and love of the game like I did this weekend from a rural team gives me hope for the future,” Champagne said. “For me it is changing the mindset of winning, back to loving the game of hockey. It is about trying your best no matter what skills you have. I grew up in Tok and although our rink sometimes was minus-20 I was there all day at the rink. It is a community and volunteering the hours. Nobody gets paid to make the ice or put lines down, but we all chip in to help, even when sometimes we don’t want to, because it helps our neighbor. Just like hockey should be. It is not about your clout in an organization wearing cool gloves or stickers on your helmet, but playing for your teammates right next to you that have come from all around Alaska. I would be grateful to work with Juneau in any capacity. The girls have great attitudes and work ethic, which is not something you find every day coaching in big cities like Anchorage.”
The team’s tournament started Thursday with an 8-0 loss to Chugiak-Eagle River, a perennial power. Kodiak-Tok had 13 shots while Chugiak-Eagle River flung 42 on net. Service-East defeated Palmer-Wasilla 4-2 on the same day; both are established state tournament attendees.
“It was hard because we did not all have the same skill level and we had not been playing together at all, so we didn’t completely mesh together on the ice,” Osterhout said. “By the third game, though, we were meshing together way better and we had a lot more figured out.”
The Juneau girls and their new team would face Palmer-Wasilla next, and Osterhout earned a penalty with under six minutes left in the game and Kodiak-Tok trailing 3-1. That would lead to a goal seven seconds into the Kodiak-Tok power play to cut the lead to 3-2. That momentum play led to another score and a 3-3 tie with 3:07 left. Palmer-Wasilla would find a goal with 2:24 remaining to take a 4-3 lead that would hold. Kodiak-Tok’s Anslee Graham scored the team’s three goals and team goalie Kearis Renard faced 26 shots. Kodiak-Tok fired 22 of their own against Palmer-Wasilla goalie Emily Christman.
On the same day, Dimond-West defeated Service-East 3-0 to earn the finals and Chugiak-Eagle River nipped South-Bartlett 4-3 to join them. All four teams have established traveling fan bases and uniforms that note their respective joint ties. Skaters’ names appear on the jersey back as well. The teams face each other numerous times during the months leading into the tournament.
When their final game ended Saturday, this time a 4-1 loss in the fifth-place game to the combined Palmer-Wasilla area team — again, historically a high school and club power — there were no long faces.
“My highlight was how we adjusted to each other and improved throughout the tournament,” Taintor said. “It was pretty fun to be on the ice in that scenario because I have never played girls hockey before.”
Osterhout said her highlight was “being in Anchorage and just having fun playing hockey.”
Kodiak-Tok put 15 shots at Palmer-Wasilla’s Christman, while Palmer-Wasilla flung 33 at Kodiak-Tok’s Renard. Graham scored her fourth goal of the tournament for Kodiak-Tok, assisted by Izzy Baker.
While the games were played to win, the results did not diminish the experience.
“My experience is more from gratitude that so many girls were interested in coming to play in the state tournament,” Champagne said. “I felt grateful for the experience and valuable opportunity the players gave to me. First it was a bit of unknown because you don’t know what girls have already committed to a team or if any girls’ comp coaches would even allow them to play in the tournament. That is why I decided to recruit by word of mouth to any girls at all levels interested. Because it is not just for girls who play comp, this is how we grow the girls hockey community. Many coaches fold their teams because of the fear of unknown. But I believe that girls at any level of hockey are able to develop and can continue working hard.”
Champagne is an advocate for girls that don’t have the opportunity to play or get overlooked by Anchorage or Fairbanks girls teams. She is an advocate for girls wanting to try hockey and for girls wanting to pursue the sport past high school, for recreation, or club hockey, or into college and beyond. She is a role model for her sister currently playing NCAA Division III for Marian University.
“For younger generations it is being the big sisters in your organizations,” Champagne said. “You always have younger girls looking up to you as a role models so whenever older girls can go to the 12U and 10U practices and volunteer, who knows, you might be someone’s hero or role model too someday.”
2023 JDHS graduate Anna Dale was the Middle Atlantic Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore last season at NCAA Division III Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, setting program records for points. This season the junior captain scored her 50th career college goal.
Last season Dale credited her teammates and stated, “It doesn’t feel like my award…it is shared…I was just so happy about it because, yeah, I wanted to be successful, but I also feel like coming from Alaska it is almost even cooler because we just don’t have as much resources and availability as people, especially on the East Coast, with hockey have. It is nice to know that for both boys and girls from back home it is possible in Juneau, you just have to work hard for it.”
JDHS Crimson Bears coach Matt Boline said, “Winter is a quiet leader and really analyzes everything on the ice at a high level. She brings the same approach to volleyball. She seems to be two to three passes ahead at all times… Brook joined the crew a bit late while she was finishing up her stellar first year with the Crimson Bears Swim team. Brook works hard on the ice and always brings the brevity off ice. She brightens the room with her personality.”
The combined Dimond-West high school team won their fifth straight girls hockey state championship Saturday, defeating Chugiak-Eagle River 3-1 and South-Bartlett defeated Service-East 5-4 in the third-place game.
These teams have larger rosters with experienced skaters. Some can field multiple lines. Some have players who compete in multiple leagues, some for various club and comp teams and some return from play out-of-state to take to the Alaska ice.
For Taintor and Osterhout, that does not matter.
“Hockey has always been a really fun part of my life,” Taintor said. “And I have always enjoyed it because it is so exciting and such a great team sport.”
The cost of travel out of southeast Alaska for camps and competition and the lack of year-round ice time are a few of the hardships hockey players in Juneau face. Yet the sport is continuing to build for girls and boys in the capital city.
“It is like my comfort zone,” Osterhout said. “I like the speed, the intensity, the fundamentals and the hard work that goes into it.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
