JDIA girls skate well at Anchorage tournament
- Klas Stolpe
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
Juneau Capitals 12U girls place fourth at Ponytail Invitational
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau Douglas Ice Association’s 12U girls hockey team had a strong showing at the 2026 Ponytail Invitational Alaska Girls Hockey Championships in Anchorage, April 10-12, placing fourth in their division. The tournament was hosted by the Anchorage Hockey Association.
“The team has spent the whole season growing and becoming better hockey players,” Juneau Capitals 12U coach Matt Barnaby said. “They exceeded expectations and showed a great demonstration of all the hard work.”
The Juneau Capitals played in the 12B tournament. The team is Avery Barnaby (age 11), Chloe Ferrin (11), Audrey Jacoby (11), Britta Jenkins (12), Brooklyn Jenkins (12), Avery Kohan (12), Amelia Sapp (12), Allana Scritchfield (11), Brynn Sooter (12) and Florence Young (10). Assistant coach is April Sapp and manager Megan Jenkins.
Barnaby said the team had a tough draw in group play, having to face three teams that finished in the final top-three placings.
The Capitals defeated Homer’s Bar Down Beauties 3-0 to open play. Sooter scored the game’s first goal in the second period unassisted. Young scored unassisted at 7:31 of the third period and Sooter scored at 4:13 assisted by Young. Sapp took the win in the pipes, stopping 19 shots. The Capitals put 12 against BDB’s Avery Bartell.
The Caps next fell 5-0 to the Mustang Hockey Association’s Mustangs from the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Juneau had seven shots at the opponent’s net while Juneau’s Sapp faced 33. The Caps finished the seeding portion of the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Kenai’s KPHA Ice Hawks. Juneau’s Sapp faced 24 shots while the Caps put seven against the Ice Hawks’ Penny Grinnell. Juneau’s Jacoby scored the game’s first goal at 8:51 of the second period, assisted by Kohan.
The Capitals then faced the first-place Ice Hawks in a semifinal to open the championship round and fell 2-0. Juneau’s Sapp faced 21 shots while the Caps put five against the Ice Hawks’ Grinnell.
The Mustangs defeated Bar Down Beauties 4-3 in the other semifinal. The Ice Hawks then topped the Mustangs 6-5 for the title. Team Delta/Interior topped Alaska Heat 3-1 in the fifth/sixth place game.
According to AHA tournament director Brian Gross, roughly 600 girls on 45 teams competed across six divisions in the invitational.
“The future of Alaska girls hockey looks bright,” Gross said. “Five champions were crowned. Four of the five championship games were decided by one goal with one taking overtime to determine a winner.”
Juneau’s Barnaby noted the JDIA has had girls play in the Ponytail Invitational tournament in prior years, “But this is the first year a JDIA team has played in the tournament. We also had two players that played on team in different age groups.”
JDIA’s Lily Roomsburg played for the AHA Comets 14U team that went 1-3, placing fifth, and JDIA’s Winter Osterhout for the open division team Powder Blue that went 0-4 and placed sixth.
Six teams competed in the 14U tournament. Interior Storm topped AHA Comets 2-1 in a semifinal and AHA (Wigren) nipped the Kodiak Bears 3-2. AHA then defeated Interior Storm 5-4 for the title in overtime. HCF defeated the Mustangs for 2-0 in the fifth/sixth-place game. In the open division, Team Black defeated Team White 3-2 for the title among six teams.
No standings were kept for the 8U portion. In the 10U tournament, the Hockey Club of Fairbanks (coach Young) topped Anchorage Hockey Association (Ward) 3-2 for the title. AHA had defeated the AHA Comets 3-2 in a semifinal and HCF had topped the Valley Predators 5-0. Ten teams competed here.
Four teams competed in the 12A tournament. AHA (Beals) defeated AHA Comets 2-1 for the title. HCF topped KPHA 3-1 for third.
The JDIA is making strides in girls hockey. Also this season, the Juneau Capitals 12U girls went 1-2-1 Jan. 17-19 at the Voyager’s Cup in Seattle.
The tournament was sponsored by the Seattle Kraken and played in the Kraken Community Iceplex. The team placed fourth behind the Jr. Kraken Navy, Langley Lightning and Kenai Peninsula. They finished in front of Kent Valley, Jr. Kraken White and Tacoma Firestreaks.
The team included Barnaby, Ferrin, Jacoby, Britta Jenkins, Brooklyn Jenkins (12), Kohan, Sapp, Scritchfield, Sooter, Young, Lily Roomsburg and Lucy Fraley. Head coach was M. Barnaby and manager Erin Roomsburg.
Lily Roomsburg scored both goals in the opening 2-2 tie against the Jr. Kraken at the Voyager’s Cup, and Kohan earned one penalty. In a 9-4 win over Kent Valley, Lily Roomsburg had six goals unassisted; Sooter had one goal, assisted by Britta Jenkins; Fraley had one goal unassisted and Kohan one goal unassisted. In a 2-1 loss to KPHA Ice Hawks, L. Roomsburg had one unassisted goal. In an 8-1 loss to Langley Lightning, L. Roomsburg had one unassisted goal and Kohan, Scritchfield and Jacoby one penalty each.
The majority of this team also placed fourth in the 2025 Voyager’s Cup in the 10U division.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
