The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School hockey team won the Florida state championship Sunday, less than two weeks after a deadly attack on their school that left 17 dead.
The No. 4-seeded Eagles upset top-ranked East Lake 3-1 in the Sunday morning semifinals at a minor-league rink near Fort Myers, then routed Tampa Jesuit 7-4 in the afternoon finals.
“This wasn’t for us, this was for the 17 victims,” player Joey Zenobi said after the finals. “So passionate, so emotional, this was all for them.”
On Feb. 14, former Stoneman Douglas student Nikolas Cruz fired rounds from an AR-15 into five classrooms on two floors of one of the school’s buildings.
“I was just glad to be alive,” senior Ronnie Froetschel said. “And I live for them now.”
Froetschel said the team thought about not playing in the state championships just 11 days after the tragedy. Teammate Matthew Horowitz said the 17 players on the roster plan to dedicate one medal to each of the 17 victims of the shooting.
Ice hockey in Florida is a club sport sponsored by Statewide Amateur Hockey of Florida.
On Monday, students returned to the high school for the first time since the shooting.