Max Kilkuts has been with the Santa Margarita hockey program since the beginning; as a freshman he was a part of the inaugural Eagles squad. On Sunday, the senior led the Eagles to their loftiest achievement yet: a national championship.
Kilkuts scored his second goal of the game 2:01 into sudden-death overtime, giving Santa Margarita a 4-3 victory over defending national champions Regis Jesuit of Colorado in the title game of the USA Hockey High School Boys’ Varsity National Championships in Coral Springs, Fla.
“It’s still surreal at this point,” Kilkuts said by phone while waiting to get on a plane back to California. “It’s something you always hope would happen and it’s nice to be the hero, but my line with Tatu Hiltunen and Eetu Selanne played well all night.”
Hiltunen and Bradley Budman also scored for the Eagles in the championship game. Brian Desmond, Hiltunen, Kilkuts, Kyle Penn and Selanne all had assists.
Brandon Schellin won in goal, completing an undefeated run through the tournament with 14 saves on Sunday.
“First of all, our best players are great leaders,” Coach Craig Johnson said about what helped make the Eagles national champions. “And our best players today were the best players in the game. The chemistry between the boys too, whether it’s a guy who’s on the first line or a guy who’s not playing as much, they support and they’re always behind each other.
“Everybody was just real driven to do this. It was something that we talked about at the start; it was our goal at the start of the season to go to the national championships and win it.”
For the third game in a row, the Eagles conceded the first goal but were able to fight back. Hiltunen’s goal got Santa Margarita even before Budman and Kilkuts scored to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead after one period.
“We responded really well to that first goal.” Johnson said. “We kept composure, we stuck with the game plan and all of a sudden we started to dominate the game. We were getting chances … we were all over them.”
Regis Jesuit rallied with goals by Conner Wigton and Nolan Carothers in the second period when, Johnson said, Santa Margarita “got away from what made us successful.”
Neither team could score in the third period, sending the championship game to sudden-death overtime where Kilkuts, with an assist from Selanne, won it for Santa Margarita.
Sunday’s national title caps a banner season for Santa Margarita, which had already won Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League and state championships.
“We really came together and we started to jell,” Johnson said. “You could see improvements in the team throughout the year.
“I felt we were ready to go to nationals, you just never know what happens when you get to the nationals; the pressure of the situation gets to kids. But again, the kids didn’t squeeze their sticks too hard, they played well and we were lucky enough to get the win.”
It was the third consecutive appearance in the national tournament for the Eagles, who improved their finish each time. In 2011, they were eliminated during pool play and last year they reached the quarterfinals. The Eagles won six games, two of them in overtime, during a span of five days to take home the 2013 championship.
Contact the writer: jwilkinson@ocregister.com
