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Steamboat Springs — Dave Strang understands the dividends that years of consistent coaching throughout the ranks of the Steamboat Springs Youth Hockey Association can pay.

Strong tournament showings from many of the association's teams last weekend reinforced the positive direction Steamboat's youth hockey is heading, said Strang, SSYHA's director of player development and coaching.

"We're now on the same page with our message, our systems and our playing habits," Strang said.

Steamboat's Bantam A squad went 3-0-1 to claim the championship title at last weekend's Ice Battle In Boulder Peewee and Bantam Tournament.

The Bantam A team (ages 13 and 14) cruised to victories in its first two games - posting decisive 5-2 victories against the Northern Colorado Grizzlies and the Casper Oilers. In the team's final round-robin game against the Boulder Valley Bison, Steamboat's Emily Birch made a clutch defensive play on a loose puck to end the game in a 1-1 tie, coach Tim Anderson said.

The tie meant Steamboat and Boulder Valley faced off again in the championship game.

Steamboat took an early lead, but the Bison came back to tie the game at 2-2 in the third period.

Steamboat's Isiah Forsyth broke the tie with his team's fourth short-handed goal of the tournament.

Steamboat was still down a man in the final minute, and Boulder Valley pulled its goalie to attack with six players. But Boulder Valley's power play ended when Steamboat's Vladan Chase emerged from the penalty box with a bone to pick.

"(Boulder Valley was) working their power play up to the point," Anderson said. "(Chase) went right to the play and knocked this kid about three rows up, he picked up the puck and cleared it."

The win gave the Bantam A's a 15-5 overall record and puts them as second in the Continental Divide Youth Hockey League as they head into the second half of their season.

Steamboat's Peewee A's (ages 11 and 12) also claimed a championship in the same tournament. In its opening game Friday, Steamboat scored with 20 seconds left in the third period to tie the Phoenix Polar Bears, 3-3. The Peewees used the momentum to crush the Providence Predators, 8-1, and the Boulder Valley Bison, 7-1, and advance to the championship game against the Foothills Flyers.

Steamboat won the eight-team Peewee A division with a 5-3 win against Foothills.

"They're coming on against some of the top teams in the state," Strang said about the Peewee A's.