Denver East ice hockey eyeing another title run as defending champs this winter

The planets all aligned for the Denver East ice hockey team to have the best season in program history in 2022. Not only did the Angels win the Class 5A state championship, putting their program and DPS on top of the local hockey world for the first time, but they were able to relish in a national high school championship as well.

And just eight years in, Zeke Romero and his teammates found themselves in quite an unusual atmosphere this past summer, riding on a fire truck along the streets of downtown Denver celebrating their ascent alongside the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche and NCAA champion Denver Pioneers.

Now, a parade may not be in the cards this coming summer, but a repeat state title for the Angels certainly appears within reach. That’s the goal, at least, for a team working to build a legacy that stands up to some of the other power prep programs along the front range.

Under head coach John Kopperud, the Angels have quickly grown — and the community support has been, in short, tremendous.

“It was so fun to see,” Kopperud said. “I’m not at Denver East and not in the (DPS) buildings a lot. My focus was so much on the team, I didn’t really see it a lot until we went to a pep rally at East. It was so cool, just brought me back 50 years to when I was in school, just like, ‘wow, this is nuts’. And then our games, the crowds through the state tournament kept building and building and in that championship game, it was nuts and the kids will remember that forever.

“Of course, they want to try and recreate it and do it again, and that’s great motivation for our guys. But it’s also something you have to move on from … you can’t just keep living in that moment. Let’s do it again, but we have to start from ground zero.”

Added Romero, a team captain and centerman this season: “It was spectacular. Just crazy how much community support we got and how much the community was binding behind us. This year, we’re kind of looking to move ahead and just put our (focus) on the next state run.”

There have been 49 state hockey champions crowned since 1976, and those 49 titles are distributed among 19 programs. The Angels are looking to join the nine programs in the state who have been fortunate to win more than one title.

There is quite a bit of turnover from last year’s roster, a group that won East’s first state championship on March 8 with a 6-3 win over Valor Christian at Ball Arena. But after a fall season in which Kopperud was able to get a good look at the chemistry of the current roster, the Angels have shown much of the same characteristics of a title-contending team.

“Defensively, we’re going to be solid. Up front, we’re not as deep up front as we were last year and we have some decent kids, but our forward group is going to have to find some scoring,” Kopperud said. “We lost our (2021-22 starting goalie), so we’re still unproven in that department too. We have some holes but we have the players that can step up. By the end of the year, I think if things can come together we can certainly get there. It’s getting experience and confidence.”

The Angels have gotten off to a 3-1 start in 2022-23, including a 3-0 victory over Ralston Valley on Dec. 12 after the Mustangs had taken over the top spot in the CHSAANow.com coaches poll in 5A. East also has victories over Cherry Creek and Palmer already, while its only loss so far came at the hands of Monarch, a 7-3 defeat in which the Coyotes scored four first-period goals in stunning fashion.

Before the postseason even begins, the top 5A teams are going to know each other quite well. The Metro Division consists of East, Ralston Valley, Cherry Creek, Regis Jesuit, Monarch, Fort Collins and Valor — a who’s who of the elite Colorado squads.

It makes every game important, Kopperud acknowledged, while Romero said he thinks the team will appreciate the top-tier competition night in and night out.

“Two-thirds of our schedule are just really big games, and really difficult games,” Kopperud said. “The historical top teams are all in the same conference and getting into the state tournament is going to be hard enough. I mean, there are going to be some really good teams in our conference that are going to be left out. You have to bring it every night.”

“A lot of teams are real close this year and any game can end any way, so it’ll come down to who wants it more,” Romero said. “We’ll play all the teams twice … I like it, because you really grow as a team when you play better competition. When you play lower teams, you start to see guys trying to win (games) by themselves. I’m going to like the competitiveness of it. We need effort, we need guys willing to take a hit and be willing to just play for each other.”