COLORADO SPRINGS – Over and over Steamboat Springs goalie Shea Shorland turned to the post on her glove side, raised her stick and tapped the painted-red piece of metal.

In a 4-1 win over Colorado Springs District 11, the Sailors sophomore turned away 18 shots in the first Class 4A state semifinal on Saturday at Ed Robson Arena on the campus of Colorado College.

“I think tapping the post is more of a superstition,” Shorland said. “I like to know where I am in the net and that’s just what I do to feel comfortable.”

Last year, Shorland sat on the bench as the Sailors claimed their first ever state championship. This year she has led the No. 4 seeded Sailors (17-4) to Ball Arena for Monday’s state title game.

“It’s a whole different game being in it and playing it,” Shorland said. “It was pretty cool to save some of those pretty good shots. Last year I learned that everyone shoots differently. It was important to have the support of the players in front of me, they did a good job of blocking shots, too.”

Trenten McElhinney, Henry Hoffner, Sawyer Vietanen and Ty Vaszily scored goals for Steamboat Springs.

Gavin Wittlinger had a pair of assists and Finn Chapman, Zander Harvey and Mason Regan had assists for the Sailors. Harrison Aker scored on a Quinlan Barton assist for D. 11 (14-7-1)

Early in the first period Steamboat escaped the neutral zone and mounted an odd-man rush. Jayden Hargis fell to the ice, but played a pass while seated to Keller Franco. The resulting chip caught the last coat of paint on the post however and the game remained scoreless.

Moments later, the Sailors were on the attack again as Wittlinger momentarily had a look at an open net that Abel Erber slid over and got a piece of for the save.

But, Steamboat Springs took a 1-0 lead just 30 seconds into a first-period power play. McElhinney coasted in from the blue line and zipped a top-shelf wrister for a 1-0 lead.

“I saw some open space on the ice and got a great pass from Xander,” McElhinney said. “I saw an open lane, took it and it worked out. Pure bliss from there. When you see that lane, you can’t unsee it.

“I know I need to take that chance. I’m cheating over and the goalie looked over at my teammate for a pass. I saw him ready to go down and knew I had to lift the puck. I went to the upper 90, left side. I love that spot. There’s a lot more than you realize.”

Early in the second period, Erber’s blocker save off the blade of Havey’s heavy-shot on goal kept the D11 deficit at 1-0.

At the 10:21 mark of the second period Regan gathered a puck from the corner and hit Hoffner with a pass just outside the circle that he deposited for a 2-0 Sailors lead.

The Sailors were able to win the battle in the corner for loose pucks throughout the game.

“Our game has been chip and chase,” Steamboat Springs coach Jeff Chapman said. “We were trying to get a little cycle going down. We kept our third guy high and were pretty effective in doing so.”

Hayzen Roos had a pair of cracks at a third goal, but a sprawled out Erber fought off the dogged attempt. Another wide open look for Regan came up after a Bookworms’ neutral zone breakdown, but Erber again kept D11 in the game by turning away the shot as the Sailors maintained a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period.

In the third period, Vietanen’s low-driven shot from the faceoff dot tucked just inside the post for a 3-0 lead

A stout defensive effort for the Sailors also kept the D11 offense at bay. Steamboat Springs held a 28-19 advantage in shots on goal. D11 finally cracked the Sailors’ defensive code when Barton connected with Aker to slip a shot past Shorland and cut the Steamboat Springs lead to 3-1 with 5:26 remaining.

But Ty Vaszily added an empty netter with 1:36 to play for the final margin.