On Monday, Feb. 14, the Park City Miners Boys’ Hockey team took down the Brighton Bengals in the D1-affiliated Utah State Championship by a score of 6-0. This comes as the Miners third straight championship after defeating Farmington in the title game in back-to-back years.

This was the Miners third consecutive playoff win, all by the convincing score of 6-0. They defeated Herriman 6-0 on Feb. 7 and then kept it rolling against Farmington in a 6-0 win on Feb. 9. 

Park City had some extra insurance coming into the title game, since the bracket is double-elimination. With a 2-0 playoff record heading into the game, the Miners would’ve been given another opportunity to win the title had they lost to Brighton on Monday night.

However, that extra insurance was not necessary. The Miners jumped to a quick 1-0 lead at the beginning of the first period, and controlled that lead into the second period, where they would really pull away. Sophomore Liam VanValkenburgh started the onslaught of scoring with a pair of goals within sixty seconds at the beginning of the period. Park City closed the period with an additional three goals to finish the period up 6-0, scoring on 5 of only 9 shots in the second. 

In the third period, Park City managed to hold off Brighton’s efforts to mount a comeback, keeping them scoreless once again to cruise to a 6-0 state championship victory.

Park City outshot Brighton, but not by much. Park City’s 23 shots narrowly edged out Brighton’s 19, but the difference came in Park City’s ability score on 26% of their shots, compared to Brighton’s 0% goal rate.

Goalie Colten McIntyre blanked the Bengals in his third straight playoff shutout. This was McIntyre’s fifth shutout in thirteen games, finishing the season with a save percentage of 93.9%, per utahhighschoolhockey.com.

This was the Bengals and Miners’ third matchup of the season. Park City ends the season series on top 2-1, beating Brighton on Nov. 3 and, of course, Feb. 14. The Bengals bested the Miners on Dec. 8 2-1, but the Miners pulled through in the game that mattered. 

The Miners will enter the 2022-23 season as defending champions for the fourth straight season after their successful three-peat. Park City will look to protect their dynasty and preserve their dominance.