5A hockey semifinals: Denver East, Valor Christian, advance to state championship game
The Class 5A Frozen Four was played at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena on Thursday night. Denver East and Valor Christian advanced to the championship games by eliminating Ralston Valley and Fort Collins, respectively.
(1) Denver East 5, (5) Ralston Valley 2
DENVER — Denver East’s hockey team continues to make history every time the Angels take to the ice.
Thursday night at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena the Angels punched their ticket to the program’s first hockey state championship game. Top-seeded Denver East defeat No. 5 Ralston Valley 5-2 in the first of two Class 5A semifinal games held at Magness.
“It feels great, but we aren’t finished here,” Denver East senior forward Connor Hasse said of making the 5A title game scheduled for Tuesday, March 8, at Ball Arena. “We aren’t satisfied without the ring.”
The Angels became the first Denver Public School hockey program to advance to the CHSAA state championship game. Denver East started the first DPS hockey program eight years ago.
Denver East will play the winner of No. 7 Fort Collins and No. 3 Valor Christian. The other 5A semifinal that took place after the Angels’ win.
Last season the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the hockey season. Denver East had an 8-2 record with both losses coming against perennial powerhouse Regis Jesuit. With only four teams making the 5A state state tournament the Angels didn’t make the Frozen Four.
“We definitely wanted to come back and show that we belonged there last year,” Hasse said of the 2020-21 season. “We’ve been fighting for this whole year. To show that we belong.”
Denver East showed why it is the top-seed in the third period. The Angels and Mustangs were tied 1-1 heading into the final period, but Denver East exploded for four goals in the final 12 minutes of the game to eventually take the 3-goal victory.
Junior Zeke Romero scored a pair of goals less than 2 minutes apart to give Denver East a 3-1 lead. Hasse, who had a goal and two assists in the win, set up Romero with a great centering pass on Romero’s first goal.
“I saw him (Romero) and he was calling for it loud,” Hasse said of the go-ahead goal with 11:32 left in the third period. “He wanted that goal.”
Sophomore Jack Paterson and junior Nicholas Chadd both added goals to extend the lead for Denver East. Chadd goal was the final one of the night on a long shot that tipped off the glove of Ralston Valley goalie Derek McMaster with 3:47 left in the game.
McMaster and Denver East goalie Noel Friedman were both outstanding in the first two periods. The goalies combined to save 57 of 59 shots in the first two periods.
Ralston Valley junior Nick Clarke gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead with 13:02 left in the first period before Denver East put in four unanswered goals. Freshman Tyler Strong scored Ralston Valley’s other goal with just over four minutes to play.
It was the first trip to the Frozen Four by Ralston Valley since the 2016 season. The Mustangs won back-to-back state titles in 2013 and 2014.
(3) Valor Christian 4, (7) Fort Collins 3
DENVER – The 2022 Colorado state hockey semifinals saved the best for last.
In a rematch of the previous two 5A state championship games, Valor Christian defeated Fort Collins in come-from-behind fashion, 4-3, to reach the 2022 5A state championship game.
Valor had won the prior two state championship meetings, in 5OTs in 2020 and by a 4-3 margin last season. The two teams played just once this past regular season, with Valor Christian taking a 3-1 victory, Jan. 28.
“I think we were very uptight and anxious to start the game, and I’ll put that on me,” Valor Christian head coach George Gwozdecky stated. “We have a lot of experienced guys who have been here before, but we also have a lot of guys who were on our JV team last year who have never played under the big lights and this big stage. After that first period I think we were able to take a deep breath and get back to our game.”
The Lambkins came out firing, as they scored on a senior Riley Laub unassisted goal just 40 second into the game. The forward found the five-hole of the goalie and gave his team the early 1-0 advantage. Fort Collins added to the lead late in the first on a goal from senior Tyler Sledz, also unassisted, to make it 2-0 after one period of play.
Valor Christian pecked away at the deficit early in the second, as senior Jack Majewski scored on a wide-open shot unassisted to cut the score to 2-1 with 13 minutes to go in the second period.
Minutes after killing a penalty, Fort Collins got its lead back to two, 3-1, as senior Jason Campos took a beautiful feed from Laub, and snuck it past the goalie for the goal with just under four minutes in the second stanza. Valor was quick to respond though, as junior Brooks Wright slapped a shot into the twine to make it a 3-2 game into the final period.
The Eagles rode the momentum into the third, as junior Noah Fekete scored a shorthanded breakaway goal just four and a half minutes into the period to make it 3-3. From there, it was a deadlock until Wright netted his second goal of the game, a backhander with just under two minutes to play. From there, they melted the clock to come away to skate away with the one goal victory.
“It was a great goal, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Wright exclaimed. “That first period was tough, but as a team we battled through it, just fought though adversity, and I’m excited to reach the championship game.”
Valor Christian will now skate in its third-straight 5A state title game, against the Denver East Angels, who will be making their first state title appearance.
“Denver East is a number one seed for a reason,” Gwozdecky added. “They are the team to beat without a doubt. We will take the lessons learned from this game into Tuesday on the big stage of Ball Arena and it’ll be an exciting game.”
