Affton Squirt Hockey Team Takes State Title

A group of young hockey players from Affton, including many who had never played team hockey before, went all the way this season.

The Affton Americans Squirt Silver Hockey team recently won the Missouri Hockey State Championships. The team had an undefeated season, with the lowest goals against average in the league.

First-year coach Matt Moseley said he taught them what he knows.

"Be aggressive, attack the puck, don’t sit around and wait," Moseley said. "I've only known travel hockey, so I tried to teach that way."

The team's pre-season was rough, but things clicked after a 14-0 loss, Moseley said.

"We took a pretty bad beat to an Affton team a level above us," he said. "At that point, I think the kids realized if we skate hard and put in the work, that will never happen again. And ever since that point we didn't lose."

Moseley said he used short shifts in games.

"I’m like, 30-45 seconds is all we do. Once and twice down the ice and you’re off. We had more hustle than a lot of teams," he said.

It helped that the Americans had two strong goalies. They allowed only 14 goals all season, with eight shut-outs between the two of them.

The final was 4-2 against second the place team, Twin Bridges. "We beat them all year, but towards the end of the season, their game got better," Mosley said.

"To see them grow and learn to love the game, that’s the biggest thing," he said. "Biggest thing was, let’s have fun, let’s work hard, and the outcome will be out best."