The Santa Barbara Royals Ice Hockey team captured the LA Kings High School Hockey League championship with a 5-2 win over Burbank on Sunday in El Segundo.
The Royals, who are a team composed of players from all of the local high schools, will now compete in the State Championships at The Rinks in Anaheim from Friday, March 13, to Sunday, March 15.
Despite Santa Barbara firing shot after shot towards the Burbank goal in the opening stages, Sunday’s championship remained deadlocked at 0-0 with less than six minutes left in the second period.
Everett Kuhm finally broke the tie in the second with a power-play goal to put the Royals up 1-0 heading into the final period.
Santa Barbara doubled its lead to 2-0 early in the third when AJ Sweet tipped in a goal off a shot from Lou Wendel. The Royals stayed hot less than a minute later when Kuhm found Gavin Hernandez for a goal and a 3-0 advantage.
Burbank came roaring back with two unanswered goals to cut the deficit down to one goal with just 10 minutes to go.
However, Santa Barbara regained control of the game and Kuhm and Anthony Garofalo scored down the stretch for the insurance and the eventual 5-2 championship victory.