State champions! Youthful Marquette Junior Wildcats girls hockey team takes title for 2nd year in a row
The Marquette Junior Wildcats won the state girls Under-8 hockey championship in Rochester Hills on Sunday, defeating a metro-Detroit Belle Tire team 6-4 in the title game. Players on the team from left are Jaelyn Hughes, Sophie Tankka, Olivia Capello, Harper McEachern, Juliana O’Dovero, Reese Bradley, Esther Grille, Tillie Tuljus, Ella Beerling, Emma Hughes and Viv Wilson. Coaches are Paul O’Dovero, left, and Mike Bradley, while Avery Wilson is also a team coach. (Photo courtesy Andrew Tankka)
This quartet of players are members of the state championship Marquette Junior Wildcats team that also were members of the 2024 team that won the same state title. From left are Viv Wilson, Reese Bradley, Harper McEachern and Sophie Tankka. (Photo courtesy Andrew Tankka)
The Marquette Junior Wildcats won the state girls Under-8 hockey championship in Rochester Hills on Sunday, defeating a metro-Detroit Belle Tire team 6-4 in the title game. Players on the team from left are Jaelyn Hughes, Sophie Tankka, Olivia Capello, Harper McEachern, Juliana O’Dovero, Reese Bradley, Esther Grille, Tillie Tuljus, Ella Beerling, Emma Hughes and Viv Wilson. Coaches are Paul O’Dovero, left, and Mike Bradley, while Avery Wilson is also a team coach. (Photo courtesy Andrew Tankka)
This quartet of players are members of the state championship Marquette Junior Wildcats team that also were members of the 2024 team that won the same state title. From left are Viv Wilson, Reese Bradley, Harper McEachern and Sophie Tankka. (Photo courtesy Andrew Tankka)
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MARQUETTE -- A young hockey team made up mostly of girls from Marquette won its state championship for the second year in a row downstate last weekend.
The Marquette Junior Wildcats played an amazing 11 games in three days to defend the title it first won last year playing in the Mite-level, 8-years-and-under division.
A majority of the 11 players are from Marquette, with three from Escanaba and one from Houghton on a team specially put together for the state tournament.
During the regular season, these players were members of coed teams before the girls banded together for their tournament run.
The team played in the state tournament in the Pontiac suburb of Rochester Hills, playing four games Friday, four more Saturday and finally another three in the final rounds on Sunday.
Each game was made up of three nine-minute periods, according to team father Andrew Tankka.
There were a dozen teams at the event, with the Junior Wildcats defeating one of two Belle Tire teams from metro Detroit 6-4 in the championship game on Sunday.
Teams were divided into two divisions, with top teams advancing to the quarterfinals, then pared to four teams for the semifinals and two for the finals.
Four of these girls were on last year's team that also won the state championship -- Marquette residents Reese Bradley, Harper McEachern, Sophie Tankka and Viv Wilson -- and two of them, Tankka and Wilson, were also on the team that finished as state runners-up two years ago.
The Marquette team in this age group started its successful run three years ago with a third-place finish in the state before improving each of the last two years and repeating last year's title success this year.
The other team members are Ella Beerling, Olivia Capello, Esther Grille, Emma Hughes, Jaelyn Hughes, Juliana O'Dovero and Tillie Tuljus.
The team was coached by Mike Bradley, Paul O'Dovero and Avery Wilson.
Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.