On Valentine’s Day, 17 people at Stoneman Douglas High School tragically lost their lives after a gunman opened fire with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle. Since that sad day, students from the school have tried to change the United States for the better, entering a national debate about guns and school safety. On Wednesday, the entire student body will return for classes again. They will have something else to have pride about.

Sunday, the Stoneman Douglas High School varsity hockey team, led by 17 Stoneman Douglas students, became State Champions after defeating Jesuit 7-4. According to ESPN.com, fourth-seeded Stoneman Douglas upset top-seeded East Lake 3-1 Sunday morning before beating Jesuit later in the day.

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A special day for the #StonemanDouglasHS Hockey team as they earned a state title. Their win not only for themselves, but for their classmates who tragically lost their lives just over a week ago. @NeverAgainMSD pic.twitter.com/O7xPA9iys9 — Andrew McDevitt (@AMcDevittTV) February 26, 2018

Stoneman Douglas entered the day the bottom seed in the tournament and would have to beat two teams they lost to the day before. Stoneman Douglas jumped on East Lake early and would eventually hold on to win. They did the same to Jesuit, putting up four goals in the first period.

“No one was lacking energy in the locker room. We all came to play. We were all ready,” Stoneman Douglas senior Joey Zenobi said to ABC7’s Andrew McDevitt. “This wasn’t for us. This was for the 17 victims. We played for them. So passionate. So emotional. It’s all for them.”

“Bad things always lead to good things,” senior Matthew Horowitz added. “It’s just nice to have this, you know? We plan to bring all our medals to the school – the 17 of us on the ice – so we can plan to put a medal around every single person that passed away.”

Entering the day as the bottom seed, the Marjory #StonemanDouglas hockey team has pulled off the unthinkable, rallying to win two games, in commanding fashion, to become State Champs!!! Hear from them tonight on @ABC7SWFL and @NBC2 pic.twitter.com/EL2nlZ0ua9 — Andrew McDevitt (@AMcDevittTV) February 25, 2018

Stoneman Douglas was led by Adam Hauptman who had a hat trick and seven points, while Matthew Horowitz and Matthew Hauptman each had two goals and three assists.

In March, Stoneman Douglas will take part in the high school hockey national championship tournament held in Minnesota.

“We almost didn’t even come here. We didn’t know if we wanted to play or not. I’m glad we did it,” senior Ronnie Froetschel said.

“I live for them now.”

Congrats to the #StonemanDouglasHS hockey team for winning the state championship today and moving on to nationals! Tonight on @winknews at 6, hear from the players who say this is something they've been striving for all season. pic.twitter.com/AqlLciySir — Chris Grisby (@ChrisWinkNews) February 25, 2018

Headline photo: @AMcDevittTV