Marlins bantam A team wins state title

BROOKINGS — The Marlins Bantam A boys’ hockey team won the state tournament with a 6-3 win over the Rushmore Thunder on Sunday.

The Marlins also defeated the Yankton Miracle 8-0 on Friday and the Oahe Capitals 2-1 on Saturday.

Head coach Mike Richmond said he couldn’t be prouder of his team.

“Their coaches and everyone are really proud of the guys,” Richmond said.

“All of the sacrifices they made during the season and in practice really paid off.”

Richmond said all the hard work his team put in during practice during the regular season helped them to claim that state championship over the weekend.

On Friday Jordan Grosdidier and Jacob Cersosimo both scored hat tricks to lead the Marlins. Alex Murtha and Matt Muth each added one goal. Murtha, Dustin Hughes, Jacob Rice, Kaleb Niehoff and Tate Sutherland each had one assist. Sutherland also had 19 saves.

“We had kind of a slow start against Yankton,” Richmond said of Friday’s game.

“We had a tough time getting going but we finally kicked it into gear.”

On Saturday Murtha and Rice each scored a goal in the Marlins’ game against Ohae.

On Sunday, Cersosimo recorded another hat trick to lead the Marlins. Murtha added two goals and Grosdidier had one goal. Mitchell had 24 shots on goal.

Richmond said one the key factors in the state championship win was Sutherland’s goalie performance.

“(Sutherland) played a really awesome weekend and that made all the difference,” Richmond said.

The Marlins ended their season 19-0-0.

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