SALT LAKE CITY — For the second consecutive year, Skyline claimed the Utah High School Hockey championship in sudden-death overtime.
Mike McCombs scored the latest game-winning goal as the Eagles defeated Bingham 3-2 Monday night at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex.
"It feels great. I've never had this experience before," McCombs said. "I've been playing hockey in Utah my whole life and it just feels great. I love the fans as well."
McCombs' score at 4:05 of the first overtime capped a furious finish by the defending champs. Skyline trailed 2-1 with less than one minute to play in regulation but forced an extra session when McCombs found the back of the net with 51 seconds to go. Nick Fornelius and Daniel Brickley assisted on the play.
"Before the game we kept our heads in it," said McCombs, a transfer from East. "We told the team we can't go easy, we've got to play our hearts out and that's what we did."
The victory sends Skyline to next month's USA Hockey High School National Championships in Chicago. The Eagles went 3-1 in last year's tournament after edging Viewmont in sudden-death in the double-elimination tournament for the Utah title.
This time around, however, Skyline made it through the state tournament undefeated. Top-seeded Bingham, though, made the finale a contest that went right down to the wire.
The Miners jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Cody Bohin scored off an assist by Dimitrios Fuskandrakis at 5:12 of the first period. They remained ahead until Skyline pulled even on a power-play goal by Taylor Hagen at 5:39 of the second. McCombs was credited with an assist.
The game was tied at 1-1 until late in the third period. A goal by Caden Ottley, off an assist by Bohin, gave Bingham an advantage with 3:11 remaining.
It wasn't enough, however, to keep the Eagles from coming back to repeat as state champions.
"That was a great game, a close game — boy, another overtime winner," said Skyline coach Sam Wilson. "It came down to the two best teams and they gave it to us. They gave us all we can handle. That's for sure."