Watch Now: Bloomington Girls Hockey Team Wins March Meltdown Championship

BLOOMINGTON — Peoria mother Leigha Adelsberger said the first words spoken by her 12-year-old daughter Finleigh were: “Ice! Ice! Ice!”

So it’s only fitting that Finleigh competed Friday through Sunday at the March Meltdown hockey tournament with the Central Illinois Revolution, a hockey team based in Bloomington.

Organized by the Central Illinois Girls Hockey Association, the tournament for girls ages 8 to 19 brought about 2,000 spectators and 250 athletes over three days to the Grossinger Motors Arena and Bloomington Ice Center. Seventeen teams from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri and Ohio came out to grip it and rip it.

Doug Kent, CIGHA board president, hockey director and Revolution head coach, told The Pantagraph he’s been to around 50 tournaments over 15 years of coaching, and he thinks they put on the best one right here in Bloomington.

“I’ve probably had 100 people come and tell me how awesome this tournament is,” he said.

What makes this tournament different from others, he said, is they offer activities for athletes’ families so they don’t want to leave the tournament after their game is over.

“We cater to the kids that aren’t playing hockey,” Kent said, adding they held spaces in the arena concourse for box hockey and stick handling drills.

Kent also said they put on a silent auction for adults, which included lots like a “Dog Lover’s” basket, a “Fun in the Sun” basket for little girls, a hockey stick signed by St. Louis Blues player Vladimir Tarasenko, and more.

The head coach estimated the tournament’s economic impact for the Bloomington-Normal area was about $85,000.

BloNo champs

Team Revolution clenched the platinum cup for the tournament’s 19-and-under division, picking up their third goal and a two-point lead in the third period ahead of the Wisconsin Them Girls on Sunday morning. Assistant Coach Dustin Salmon said the big victory was the culmination of six years of practice.

“We used to be the team that would lose 10 to nothing,” he said, adding the girls all got started in the sport when they were age 10 or 11.

“It’s so amazing just to watch them grow from where they’ve come from, knowing that six years ago some of them couldn’t even skate,” said Salmon, “and now they’re hoisting a cup.”

Revolution first played Them Girls on Friday, he said, finishing 5-2. Then, they took the Naperville Sabres Saturday morning, coming out 3-1, with Salmon noting that’s a big hockey organization with hundreds of girls who try out for the suburban team.s

“We have to scrap to even get enough to have a team,” he said, adding they can’t hold tryouts. Revolution has girls from Champaign, Peoria, Pekin, Springfield and Danville, plus “a good few from Bloomington,” the coach said.

The elder division swept the Quad Cities Blues Saturday evening 5-1, before their final winning game Sunday morning.

Coach Salmon’s wife, Corrie Salmon, was cheering in the stands for her two Revolution daughters. She said she was so proud of them, and it was nice to end the season on such a high note.

She said it’s been special that Avery, 17, and Allie, 13, shared hockey experiences together as sisters.

Karen Scardicchio, of Mundelein, was there Sunday to support her daughter Lillian, playing for Them Girls. The mother said she was impressed with her performance.

“It was a true competition,” Scardicchio said.

She added that the Them Girls only came together for the first time on Friday, picking up a shorter season after the high school one ends. While other Them Girls returned from previous seasons, Lillian just joined up three days ago.

Girls play fair

From her daughter’s first words, Adelsberger said all Finleigh wanted to do was skate. 

As a family, playing with Revolution been a fun, positive experience, she said. When Finleigh scores, her mother still gets goosebumps.

Plus, Adelsberger said the level of sportsmanship has been amazing.

Coach Salmon said the Revolution girls are sure to congratulate other teams players when they get good shots, and he doesn’t see that a lot with boys.

He said that virtue is reciprocated between teams.

Adelsberger recalled how a team from Hoffman Estates once earned a MVP puck. But their entire team handed it to the Revolution goalie, she said, because she stopped around 50 shots.

Moments like that give the hockey mom tears.

Contact Brendan Denison at (309) 820-3238. Follow Brendan Denison on Twitter: @BrendanDenison