EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The last game turned out to be very special for five senior members of the Oklahoma City Oil Kings.

For Anthony Stancampiano, Ben Dillman, Josh Gleason, Will Ryan and Micahel Dunford, it was a chance to skate off the ice as winners one last time.

The five seniors — and the Oil Kings — accomplished the mission Sunday morning.

Oklahoma City shut out the Carolina Junior Hurricanes for most of the game and held on for a 3-1 victory in the USA Hockey Tier II 18-and-Under 1A championship at Suburban Ice Arena.

[y tii 18 1a champs] It was the second time in three years an 18U Oklahoma City team took home the title at the end of the tournament, cementing this team as a force in youth hockey.

“We had a whole different team a couple years ago. Back then we were the young ones, and now we’re the ones with the experience,” Dillman said. 

The Oil Kings began play with a 3-2 shootout win over the Wheeling Amateur Nailers (West Virginia), beat Team Wyoming 3-2 and knocked off the Junior Hurricanes in a 4-3 overtime win in pool play. Oklahoma City beat the Columbia (S.C.) Cyclones 3-2 in the semifinals.

“I’ve been telling these guys to work hard and move your feet,” Dillman said. “Everyone was ready for this game. We were prepared and ready to go. We got those goals in the second period and everyone was moving.”

To Oklahoma City coach Mike McEwen, the 5-0 tournament record validated what had been a season of highs and some, but not too many, lows.

“It’s one of those deals where we kind of had an up and down year,” McEwen said. “Here, our goalies were good and we got goals when we needed them and the other team didn’t. I saw Carolina play before we did and they were a solid team.”

The Oklahoma City goalie tandem of Will Ryan and Austin Schmidt helped the Oil Kings dominate action. In five games the duo allowed 10 goals and stopped 175 shots.

“That tandem far exceeded any team we faced at all this year,” Carolina coach Bill Fredenberg said. “The first time we faced them [a 4-3 overtime win for Oklahoma City on Friday] we launched 47 shots at them. It’s good goaltending and they’re pretty sound at all the positions.”

In Sunday’s final Carolina launched 44 shots, and Ryan stopped all but one. 

The game was scoreless until just over a minute into the second period, when Dillman assisted Stancampiano on the first goal. Sean Carpentier and Colton Nelson then fed Jacob Rowley on a goal with 11:59 remaining in the period. The Oil Kings then added a third goal with 3:01 to go in the period, as Dillman scored on a Stancampiano assist.

With 8:31 left in the third period, Carolina spoiled the shutout as Chris Comrie scored on a power-play goal, assisted by Joe Gabryszak. 

“We got the goal, the bench perked up and we got some opportunities, but [Oklahoma City] shut us down. Simple as that,” Fredenberg said. 

Carolina started out with a 5-4 win over Team Wyoming and went on to beat Wheeling 6-4 before falling to Oklahoma City. The team still made the semifinals, where it defeated the Utah Golden Eagles 4-3. 

The perception of Raleigh as a NASCAR and college basketball mecca has diminished in recent years, what with the success of the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team. More Raleigh kids are playing hockey, and that has increased the sport’s visibility in Fredenberg’s eyes.

“It’s come a long way,” Fredenberg said. “This is a huge accomplishment for us. We were on an upward trajectory through the whole tournament.”

For the seniors, the chance to exit on top with a championship was too good to pass up.

“We knew we would never have this same team again. It was our last chance,” Gleason said. “The teams that we played a lot this year were in higher divisions and they really got us ready for this championship game today.”

“We wanted to come back,” Dillman added. “It was like one more time, let’s get a title.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.