Santa Margarita repeats as state hockey champs

SAN JOSE – Santa Margarita overcame an early deficit to defeat rival JSerra, 7-1, and capture its second consecutive California Amateur Hockey Association state hockey championship on Sunday at Sharks Ice.

The Lions (22-13-2) led 1-0 after the first period on Griffin Shortt's goal before the Eagles took over.

Andrew Kristof scored what proved to be the winning goal in the second period, and Kyle Penn scored twice for Santa Margarita (25-3-1), which earned a berth at the USA Hockey Nationals in Coral Springs, Fla., on March 20-24.

"We had an unbelievable first period, and then we ran out of gas," JSerra coach Mike Perkins said. "We have 16 freshmen in our program between varsity and JV, so we feel we're making steps. We were fourth last year, second this year and we're young.

"Our guys gave everything they had against a solid, well-coached, veteran team."

Max Kilkuts, Tim Ciotoli, Tatu Hiltunen and Tyler Gebauer scored for the Eagles, while Brandon Schellin got the victory in net.