Inside Wyoming's 18U hockey team's first national title.

In those precious few moments, we immediately know it's going to be important.Often we just don't understand how important. Maybe you'll figure it out later, maybe you'll never fully understand it. But we know.

On April 7, Team Wyoming Hockey had a special opportunity to live one of those moments, knowing exactly what it meant. That Sunday morning in Delmont, Pennsylvania, the only hockey team representing Wyoming (from Jackson to Cheyenne and even a mix of players from Miles City, Montana) won Wyoming's first 18U Hockey National Championship. did.

The win was a monumental step for a Wyoming team that has been in the tournament for at least the past four years, finishing third twice and getting eliminated in the round-robin stage the second time.

“I think there's definitely an expectation of the standard that we want as an organization,” Wyoming head coach Laramie Davis said.

There are two elements to that expectation. Davis reiterated that his priorities for his players are to make them good citizens first and good hockey players second. Gentlemanly behavior doesn't always translate to success on the ice, but it seems to have worked out well for his Wyoming team.

In its early stages, before Davis arrived four years ago, players say they didn't know much about the program other than that it wasn't well-regarded.

“I don't think any dynamics were really known,” said Brax Thomas, a forward on this year's championship team. “I don’t even know if it was the best players in the state.”

Some, like Hunter Lane, said the show is seen as a “joke” by outsiders.

It's worth noting that Casper's Thomas and Lane combine more than 20 years of hockey experience in Wyoming. They're not new here, and Team Wyoming is no stranger to them. Both have been on the state team for several years.

Davis recalled that when he first arrived, he had to call up 16 U players just to join one team for tryouts, which he did on April 13 for next year's team. That was a far cry from the 30 people he estimated would try out for the event.

Just being able to field two full teams is a huge step forward for a program that shows no signs of slowing down. Two teams and a goaltender on the roster, including Emily Bresnahan, a girl who drove up from Laramie and previously lived in Dallas, Texas, goes far beyond the program's inception. It is carried out.

Davis said it was the first time she had seen a girl try out for the men's team, and everyone she spoke to with the Star Tribune welcomed the tournament and saw it as a sign of growth. .

Players on this year's winning team who previously tried out said they noticed changes from past years.

“This year's tryouts were the toughest yet and I think the best competition I've seen. They raised the bar,” Thomas said. “If you're playing here, we're playing to win a national championship right now.”

The culture Davis has built appears to be paying off. His championship team was made up primarily of returning players, some of whom had spent more than three years under Davis' tutelage. Tommy Caruso, a Jackson native and Wyoming's No. 2 nationally-conference goaltender, was the only four-year veteran to join Davis' Wyoming program.

Caruso's time with the team is a testament to the program's growth. Davis said Caruso started playing on the 18U team at age 14 because Team Wyoming was unable to field a 16U team that year.

This year, the 16U age group had enough players to fill four teams at tryouts.

Few things are more important to a team's performance on the ice than chemistry. In hockey, it's more important than in most other sports. Once you reach a certain level, if the players don't get along, no matter how talented they are, they won't be able to carry the team to the goal line.

One might think this would be a problem for a team whose players were spread across two states and whose top players grew up competing against each other every week.

Players up and down Wyoming's roster called the team a “brotherhood.” Davis repeatedly emphasized the importance of building camaraderie within the team. Some players have readily admitted that they didn't necessarily like each other, but players who don't actually like each other rarely say it out loud.

“There were some players around the state that I hated just because they played,” Thomas said. “But once you get to know these kids and realize how cool they are, it becomes something very special.”

Thomas, Lane and Eli Youmans, a forward from Casper who is returning to the team, all pointed to an often overlooked aspect of traveling sports: spending time together on the road.

“One of the biggest things we did all year when we went to tournaments was we were in the same room together all year,” Youmans said. “We don't play together much throughout the season, but when we do, one of our biggest ways is to be as close to each other as possible.” [grew] That brotherly love. ”

Good citizens first, good hockey players second. That's the mantra Davis lives by as he coaches these teams. Most players on this team will not play in college. There are even fewer players who play beyond that, and statistically the chances of these players making his NHL appearance are almost 0%.

In the league's 107 years of existence, not a single player from Wyoming has suited up for an NHL team. The odds are only marginally better for the team's resident Montanans. Ottawa Senators rising star Jake Sanderson has played in 156 games and is the only Montanan to appear on the show.

That could change with this crop — after all, these players have already bucked a lot of trends — but in the meantime, Davis understands the importance of life outside of hockey. and is emphasized.

“I had six 18-year-olds who graduated, and I'm sure there will be some 17-year-olds who were seniors who won't be back, because life goes on when hockey ends,” Davis lamented. “I didn't lose a lot of good hockey players. I lost a lot of good young men,” he said before repeating his mantra.

The players also understand the importance of this.

“Hockey is important, but we care about each other more than hockey,” Youmans said.

More than that, Davis said his focus is on player maturity and respect for others.

“I have a little girl and she was with me this year,” he said. “When I look at these young men, the way they treat my daughter and everything else, and I see the respect they treat us with when we go to a restaurant, … They should be very proud of where they come from and what they've done.” ”

Youmans and Thomas added that through hockey they learned skills that will last a lifetime, such as how to forget the past when working with someone for the first time.

“Even in Pittsburgh, half the people couldn't tell you where Wyoming was,” Thomas said at a table of teammates (all from Casper). They nodded in agreement. “Being able to express that means a lot to me.”

The ability to truly represent the entire state is something that Team Wyoming has and that many others do not have. The majority of the other teams in the tournament (including those named after entire states, like the Idaho Steelheads, whom Wyoming shut out in the championship game) are nearly all from the state's largest cities. A team from one or two of.

For a team comprised of players from six cities across two states – Casper. Cheyenne. Riverton. Gillette. Jackson. and Miles City, Mont. — Wyoming pride seems to be contagious to his four Montanans who play on and coach the team.

Davis, a Montana native himself, chuckled when asked what it was like coaching a team representing a state he doesn't live in.

He recalled playing against Wyoming teams as a child and the animosity he once felt toward the players he played against.

Well, that's another story. One of them helped him get this job.

About seven years ago, he remembers getting a message from a friend at Gillette asking him to help out with Team Wyoming's player development camp. Three years later, he was asked to coach.

Wyoming isn't his home, but it's a part of him.

Davis said, sitting at the rink in Casper, representing Team Wyoming from his hat to his jacket to his pants. That's me. My address is in Montana, but I'm definitely a hockey player from Wyoming. ”