The Copper Country Flyers 12U hockey team poses with the state championship banner. (Submitted Photo)

HOUGHTON — There’s a group of Copper Country 11- and 12 -year-old hockey players that are making the state of Michigan youth hockey scene take notice.

Earlier this month, the 17 players with the Portage Lake Flyers brought home the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association’s 12U state championship trophy. The majority of this same group did it two years earlier as 10-year-olds when they won the MAHA 2020 10U AA state championship.

The Flyers, a travel team, are part of the Copper Country Junior Hockey Association. The Flyers are composed of middle-school players from the Houghton, Hancock and Jeffers school districts.

Travel hockey is no walk in the park. The Flyers first dropped the puck at Lakeview Arena in Marquette on Oct. 1, 2021.

But the Flyers made it look like a walk in the park, finishing the season with a 46-9-2 record. Their first loss came in December – taking the Flyers to 21-1 at that time.

“Obviously, the other four coaches and I are proud of the team,” said Flyers’ head coach Mario Paoli. “They worked hard all season both in practice and on the ice.”

“We  had three goals this season,” Paoli said. They were to improve and get better as a team, win districst and win state. And completed all three.”

The Flyers outscored opponents 350-133. The coaching staff agreed teamwork was key to this success.

“They played as a team on the ice game in and game out,” Paoli said. “From our goaltenders to our offense and defense, we had great combinations. As well the kids were strong and resilient as they had to overcome some adverse situations on the ice and off.”

The MAHA state finals were held in Kalamazoo on the first weekend in March. The Flyers were one of eight teams divided into two pools of four teams.

The Flyers took care of the Soo Jr. Lakers with a 10-1 victory in their first playoff game. They then topped Fox Motors out of Grand Rapids, 6-3.

Paoli said that one of their toughest games was when they faced the Saginaw Jr. Spirit. While the Flyers beat the Spirit twice in the regular season, they trailed 1-0 with minutes to go. The Flyers rallied to tie the game.

Both teams played again the following day. But before that, the Flyers needed to get past the Kensington Valley Raiders, which wasn’t an easy task, Paoli said.

“That was a literally a back-and-forth battle,” he said. “They would score, we would tie it. Then we would go up by one, and they would tie us. In the end though we won 6-5.”

He credits that grit in the Kensington game as an impetus to roll past Saginaw 7-1 for the state title.

“The kids played hard in that final game,” Paoli said. “They showed stamina and were rolling on all four cylinders. We played Copper Country hockey that day.”