Southern Utah Yeti youth hockey teams host Vegas counterparts for MLK weekend

CEDAR CITY — Dozens of youth hockey players took to the ice this past holiday weekend as five different age-group teams from Southern Utah hosted their counterparts from Las Vegas.

Young hockey players from the Southern Utah Yeti face their counterparts, the SoBe Ice Warriors from Las Vegas, during a holiday weekend tournament in Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 20, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards. St. George News / Cedar City News

At the Glacier Ice Rink adjacent to the Cedar City Aquatic Center, crowds of family members and fans filled the bleachers and lined the edges of the rink as the young boys and girls skated around the ice, moving the puck toward the opponent’s net.

Dallin Staheli, president and general manager of the Glacier, said there were two games played Friday evening, two on Saturday and six on Monday. The Southern Utah Yeti’s five co-ed teams included one 14U team (for players age 14 and under), one 12U team, two 10U teams and one 8U team. 

The event marked the second year the SoBe Ice Warriors made the trip up from Las Vegas to participate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.

“This is something that’s kind of becoming an annual tradition here,” Staheli told Cedar City News as he prepared to drive the Zamboni resurfacing machine over the ice between games on Monday. “The group came up last year over Martin Luther King weekend and played some fun games against us.”

Staheli added that even though the Ice Warriors came up last year, the weather impeded the event to some degree.

“It snowed like crazy, so we only got half the games in that we planned to get in,” he said, noting that the Vegas participants rarely get a chance to play outdoor hockey.

Official scores weren’t tabulated, but goals were plentiful. One game early Monday morning was 8-0 in favor of the visitors after two periods. Later in the day, the home team managed a couple goals but fell 7-2. 

Young hockey players from the Southern Utah Yeti face their counterparts, the SoBe Ice Warriors from Las Vegas, during a holiday weekend tournament in Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 20, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards. St. George News / Cedar City News

It wasn’t a complete sweep for the Ice Warriors, though, as the Yeti 12U team managed to win one of its games 6-5.

“It was still really fun for all our kids, and the Vegas teams loved the winter atmosphere,” Staheli added. “We have a blast doing it, and we expect that it’ll continue on for years to come.”

Staheli said the weekend marked yet another busy weekend at the Glacier, which currently has approximately 110 youth and 145 adults enrolled in its hockey programs, plus another 20 or so teenagers who play on Cedar City’s high school club hockey team comprising students at Cedar and Canyon View high schools. Another 115 children are enrolled in learn-to-skate classes, Staheli added.

“In the first eight weeks of operation this winter, we have had 10,000 public skaters and 52 private rentals, which average about 40 people per session,” he added.

The SUI high school team has two home games scheduled this coming weekend: against Park City at 8:30 p.m. Friday and against Northern Utah Independent on Saturday at 7 a.m.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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