Members of Team Copper Country and their coaches pose with the championship plaque and banner after defeating the Michigan Ice Hawks Sunday at Lakeview Arena. (Judy Gill photo)

MARQUETTE — It is rare in sports that a team wins a national title before ever winning a state championship, but that has been the experience of Team Copper Country 18U Tier 2. Team CC has played for the Tier 2 state championship each of the past three seasons and had all manners of issues before finally breaking through this past weekend with a 5-0 win over the Michigan Ice Hawks in Sunday’s title contest at Lakeview Arena.

“We performed to our potential,” coach Micah Stipech said. “We were much more prepared and the kids performed well.”

Team CC, which is made up of players from Hancock, Calumet, Houghton, Kingsford and Marquette, outscored opponents 29-2 in pool play on Friday and Saturday before falling behind just under five minutes into their semifinal match against the Oakland Junior Grizzlies.

Calumet’s Brent Loukus settled things down for Team CC with a goal at the 12:00 mark. Loukus scored again just under eight minutes into the third to sandwich a tally from Calumet’s Sam Erkkila.

Hancock’s Alex Nordstrom capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with just 24.9 seconds left to seal a third straight trip to the championship game with a 4-1 win.

Calumet’s Nick Voelker shut the door in goal after that opening tally for the Grizzlies.

Stipech singled out Erkkila for his efforts throughout the weekend to spark Team CC. Skating on a line with Houghton’s Dawson McKay and Kingsford’s Daunte Fortner, the trio made life difficult for opponents and provided the type of pushback the team needed against the Grizzlies, who were physical from the opening faceoff.

“He plays big,” Stipech said. “He is consistently one of the hardest working players. He’s physical. He’s in your face. Hockey is a game of second effort, and Sammy exemplifies second effort.”

Two years ago, Team CC had its top players fatigued from playing seven games on the weekend, five in the tournament and two more with Team Michigan. Last season, it came into the state tournament with numerous injuries. To get to the title game with only one man-game lost to sickness and none to injury allowed the group to play its game.

Erkkila gave Team CC a 1-0 lead just 1:36 into the second period.

From there, the locals struck four more times thanks to two tallies from McKay and one each from Houghton’s P.J. Donnelly and Loukus en route to the victory.

Hancock’s Dawson Kero earned the shutout in the win.

A member of Houghton’s top line throughout the season, Donnelly found himself in a bottom six forward role with Team CC and that suited the junior winger just fine.

“P.J. had a good weekend,” Stipech said. “That was nice to see from him. He plays his role on this team really well.”

To get to the medal round, Team CC downed Kensington 9-1 on Friday night before knocking off Lansing Split Season 7-1 and the Lansing Spartans 13-0.

While Team CC easily outscored opponents all weekend, Stipech and his staff actually made adjustments throughout, as they only had two practices prior to tournament play to get the skaters up to speed on their game plan.

“We actually ended up simplifying things even more during the tournament,” said Stipech. “You just go to your default. It is better that everyone is on the same page doing something that is not as optimal than trying to do something else.”

With the victory, Team CC advances national tournament, which will be held primarily at Cornerstone Community Center in Green Bay, April 5-9. It will be the first time Cornerstone has hosted a national tournament since the 2015 USA Hockey Girls Tier 1 and women’s national championships.