The Dimond/West girls hockey team celebrates a 3-1 win over Chugiak/Eagle River in the championship game of the girls state hockey tournament at Ben Boeke Arena on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Chris Bieri / ADN)

For the past half decade, the dominant power in girls high school hockey in Alaska has been Dimond/West and that isn’t changing anytime soon.

Following the team’s 3-1 victory over Chugiak/Eagle River on Saturday afternoon at Ben Boeke Ice Arena, Dimond/West claimed a fifth straight state title to extend what has been quite the impressive dynasty.

“We’ve had some good success,” D/W head coach Brian Gross said. “We’ve had some great players come through here and they work hard and they’ve earned a pretty good run here.”

Coming into the final game, the D/W game plan was to keep the pace of the game high in an effort to tire out Chugiak/Eagle River, which was running two-line shifts compared to their three.

“We didn’t seem to do that and they seemed to have gas all the way to the end,” Gross said. “They have a good team and have some really good players.”

Dimond/West had to come from behind to emerge victorious after allowing a goal in the first 49 seconds of the game when Chugiak/Eagle River’s Reece Dutton found the back of the net to give her team an early advantage.

“We know it’s a three-period game and there was going to be some ups and downs,” Gross said. “When there’s downs, we’ve just got to come back and fight and not get too down or you get into bigger trouble.”

His team stayed positive on the bench, which translated to resiliency on the ice as they began to rally.

“We’ve been through it before, so they knew they could come back,” Gross said.

Dimond/West knotted the game and managed to take the lead in the final five-and-half minutes of the first period, thanks to goals from a pair of freshmen.

The tying goal came courtesy of Zoey Brady off an assist from senior Liz Sharpe at the 5:27 mark and with 38.6 seconds left on the clock, Sharpe assisted Chloe Hayner in scoring the team’s second on a power play.

“It felt nice to score a goal in the championship game,” Hayner said. “I was really scared and my heart was racing before I got on the ice, and then I settled down and was like, ‘we got this,’ and we got it.”

The state championship was her first game back in a month due to an injury.

“She’s a spark that really ignites us, so it was great to have her back again,” Gross said.

Dimond/West deployed two goalies in senior Blue Damrill and freshman Kiera Lardizabal, who combined to make 16 saves on 17 shots.

“We’ve had four goalies this year, which is a good problem to have, but it’s also harder to make sure they all get playing time,” Gross said. “Our defense has been outstanding. We really limit the shots, and we make it tough to score on us.”

The game remained tightly contested until the waning seconds when Svea Dorman launched the puck from her defensive zone into an unmanned goal for an insurance empty-netter.

“It’s always nice to get an empty-netter,” Gross said. “I have confidence in our defense and our goaltending and our forwards. So once that went in, it was a little sigh of relief.”

Hayner was on the ice for the third and final goal and knew the puck was destined to find the back of the net as soon as she made contact.

“I came to her before it went in and I was like, ‘that’s so good,’ ” she said. “It felt really nice. All the pressure was gone.”

Being a first-year player on a four-time defending champion team, Hayner admitted that she and some of the other Dimond/West players felt some pressure to keep the state title streak alive all year. It only intensified when the state tournament got underway.

“People were trying to take it from us but we really carried it and got a (win),” she said.

Unlike years past when his team met little resistance on its way to racking up titles, this year’s tournament saw far more parity, with several close games throughout that were decided by one or two goals.

“Last year Dimond/West was the strongest team I’ve ever seen, and we were pretty dominant,” Gross said. “This year the games have been all pretty close, a lot more parity and really good games. It was fun to see.”

This year’s tournament was also by far the most inclusive and served as a testament to its growth and the advancement of the sport as a whole. It featured a first-year Kodiak/Tok team that consisted of players from rural and remote areas.

“We’re always trying to grow our sport, grow girls hockey and high school programs around the state,” Gross said. “It’s fantastic, and I hope we can continue to do that and get more participation in the future.”