In the team's final two league games of the season, the Summit U-19 girls' hockey squad proved the old adage that less is more. With a shorthanded lineup and facing one of the area's perennial powers, Summit earned a win and a tie in a pair of games Saturday against Colorado Select.

According to an e-mail from the team, it has been “many years” since Summit had beaten the Select team, and to do it with only eight players in the lineup was an extremely impressive feat.

“We talked before the game about how no one was going to feel sorry for us or show us any mercy and we would need each and every girl to dig deeper than ever before,” head coach Wendy Peters said in the e-mail.

In the day's first game, Summit dressed only nine players and trailed

1-0 early in the contest. Winger Casey Farrel then tied the score in the second period on a sharp-angle shot. Goaltender Rachel Fitch then shut down the Select attack the rest of the game, giving Summit a 1-1 tie.

For Game 2, Summit had one less player than the previous game but had an even better result.

Midway through the second period, Summit's captain Kelly Joyce rifled a shot past the Select goalie from the top of the circles to give her team a 1-0 lead.

With the intensity of the game building, Fitch continued her dominance over the Select offense, stonewalling her opponent's the rest of the way.

Joyce added a second goal late in the game to seal the win.

“That was one of the most impressive performances I have ever seen,” Peters said of the win. “A little group of eight Summit girls are not supposed to be able to beat Select, but somehow they did and they did it with amazing class, respect and good sportsmanship which is exactly what Summit Youth Hockey is all about.”

The two games featured inspired efforts from the few girls Summit had in the lineup. Ivy Marshall, Emily Burch, Missy Woodring, Hailey Curnutte and Blass led the Summit attack on the day, while Joyce was helped on the blue line by Emily Bilenduke and Katy Peoples.