Springfield and Kirkwood #1 would face off for the fourth time this season but this time a State Championship was on the line. Kirkwood took the Spirit out of their game and frustrated Springfield every step of the way. Kirkwood would go 4 for 6 with the man advantage as the Spirit got into penalty trouble. Kirkwood would win the game and State Championship by a score of 7-1.

Kirkwood got on the board 4 minutes into the game, skating around the defense for an easy 1-0 lead. Less than 2 minutes later the Stars would take advantage of some sloppy Springfield defense for a 2-0 lead. In the second period the Spirit got into some penalty trouble and Kirkwood made them pay by scoring two power play goals to make it 4-0. In the 3rd, Will Peters off a tremendous effort cut to the middle and would score to make it 4-1 giving Springfield some life. That was short lived as the Spirit again took two penalties and Kirkwood capitalized on both of them. Kirkwood would score an additional goal towards the end of the game to make it 7-1. The score would hold up and the #2 Stars would beat the #1 Spirit to capture the State Championship.

In a game when Kirkwood outplayed and out hustled the Spirit, this would be one Springfield will want back. The Spirit did not bring their A game to the table and found out the hard way that the playoffs are a different season. Good lessons will be learned from this game and will hopefully carry over to future seasons.

Springfield would finish the year with a record of 30-6-3. They placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in three tournaments and placed second in the state. Not the outcome Springfield wanted at the end of the season but a great season nonetheless.

Notes:

Cooper Pumphrey- At 10 years old, Pumphrey posted 10 shutouts in 39 games.
Gavin Loven would lead the team in goals, points, and plus/minus with 61, 78, and +60 respectively.
Zahn Werner would lead the team in assists with 18.
Crystal Gettman was the only Spirit player to not record a penalty this season.

The Spirit scored 156 goals this year and gave up only 75.

Springfield had 5 players hit the double digit mark in goals the season: Loven-61, Wirth- 26, Werner- 20, Kettering-11, Peters-10.