In an emotional come-from-behind victory, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s ice hockey team rebounded from three losses over the weekend to win a state championship.
The triumph comes less than two weeks after 17 people were killed in a shooting rampage at the school in Parkland, Florida.
The squad’s players said they’d played hard in the tournament not for their own success, but to honor the people who were killed.
“This wasn’t for us,” senior Joey Zenobi told WBBH-TV. “This was for the 17 victims. We played for them.”
Stoneman Douglas was the last seed going into the semifinals of the Tier I SAHOF Florida Hockey State Championship on Sunday after losing all three of their round-robin games, reported CBS Miami.
The team, however, pulled off an impressive upset, besting top-seeded East Lake 3-1 to snag a spot in the finals. Stoneman Douglas then beat Jesuit High School 7-4 in the title game.
“[They] endured unimaginable tragedy at their school, and now they will bring a state title back to their grieving community,” the tweet read.
With the win, Stoneman Douglas has qualified for the high school hockey national championships, which will be held next month in Plymouth, Minnesota.
Senior Matthew Horowitz said the team would be dedicating their medals to the 17 people who lost their lives in the shooting.
“No one was lacking energy in the locker room. We all came to play, we were all ready,” he told WBBH-TV.
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The team’s victory occurred on the same day that students returned to Stoneman Douglas’ campus for the first time since the tragedy to attend an open house event.
Classes at the school are slated to resume on Wednesday.