Margaret Pugh Utah Wild
As August comes to a close, the tenth annual Ski Town Classic comes to an end. The event, hosted by the Wild, took place August 17-18 at the Regional Athletic Complex located in Salt Lake City.
The weekend kicked off with rounds starting at 9am on Saturday with a total of forty-seven teams competing. Seven of which were based here in Utah: Quick Draw, Sego, Shrimp, Fat Stacks, PowderHogs, Sundance Kids, and Swell.
Ski Town has more than quadrupled in size since 2015, when the tournament hosted a single open division with just 8 teams competing.
“It’s cool to see how big Ski Town is now,” says Sean Stackhouse, coach and representative of PowderHogs, “I went to school in the Seattle area, and to have teams from Seattle make it down makes it even more special. [I] got to meet up with alumni friends who I hadn't seen in 3 years. That wouldn't have happened if Ski Town hadn't grown so much.”
The Ski Town Classic is a part of the regular club season and results from the event will count towards a club’s overall ranking, giving club teams a chance to both show off their skills and figure out what areas need improvement.
“We came out pretty flat against a team on Saturday, and had some teammates get frustrated with one another,” says Stackhouse, “We took some time to refocus and establish expectations for players better. Come Sunday we ended up playing the same team again and were able to win with everyone contributing. It was a fun full circle moment for especially our newer players.”
PowderHogs finished the weekend in their pre-quarters game against Hazard, where they fell to the Los Angeles team 13-4.
“Hazard would be our best learning game. They showed how valuable possession was, making it difficult to take it away from them, but also showed we can compete at that level, knowing most of our turnovers were unforced,” says Stackhouse, “I'm hoping we can carry that kind of focus on possession and understanding we don't have to be taking such hard shots forward into sectionals/regionals.”
The Wildfire from San Diego, California came out victorious in the women’s division winning against Crush City 9-7. Utah’s own Salt Lake Shrimp won the open division against Riverside 13-6, with an all-freshman and sophomore line. Thanks to their strong play at Ski Town the Shrimp earned a strength bid for the northwest region to nationals. Lastly, Space Force, another nationals contender, from Huntsville, Alabama came out on top in their final tournament against the Donuts 12-6.
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