DENVER – The old saying is that practice makes perfect. But there was never any clarification on how many practices make perfect.
 
For the Cheyenne Mountain Red-Tailed Hawks, the number is one. They had just one practice between their semifinal win over Steamboat Springs and the Class 4A state championship game against Colorado Academy. 
 
It was all they needed as they beat the Mustangs, 4-0, at Ball Arena to capture their first hockey state title since 2004.
 
A figure skating event took the majority of the ice time in Colorado Springs and the Hawks finally found some time at Ed Robson Arena, the home of the Colorado College Tigers, to get one true day of prep in for the state title game. But the Hawks were more reliant on a season-long preparation plan that coach Erik Austin put into place.
 
““(The one practice) didn’t matter,” coach Erik Austin said. “The process worked. They were ready. They were ready whether they were on the ice on Saturday or doing yoga.”
 
It’s also the 15^th hockey state title for the Hawks, which is nine more than any other team in Colorado. The Hawks were a hockey powerhouse for a 20-year stretch, as they won 14 championships from 1982 to 2004. But there has been a major drought since then. After losing in last year’s semifinals, the Hawks were determined to hang a fresh banner in the gym.
 
Drew Elwell got them on the board 6 minutes, 8 seconds into the game on a stick side shot on the Colorado Academy net. The Hawks peppered Mustangs goalie Fraser Smith with 24 shots in the first period alone, but he only yielded that one goal.
 
The Hawks went up 2-0 thanks to a power play goal from Philip Bramble that required a brief discussion by the officials. Smith saved the puck, but was inside the net when he gathered it so the Hawks added to the lead. 
 
“We were comfortable, but it wasn’t enough,” Bramble said. 
 
Two-goal leads are often regarded as the most dangerous leads in all of hockey and that’s what the Hawks took into the third period. But with Jeremy Renholm turning away every shot that he faced, the only team the lead was dangerous for was Colorado Academy. 
 
“Once we got the first one, we knew that we were rolling,” Renholm said. “We knew we had it. When we score first, we’re dangerous.”
 
It wasn’t a two-goal lead for long, as Bramble netted his second goal early in the third period to make it a 3-0 lead, and the Hawks coasted the rest of the way. 
 
“That was the gamebreaker,” Bramble said. “We told everyone in the locker room that the next goal was the game.”
 
But they never let off the gas. The Hawks outshot the Mustangs 44-14 through the course of the game and Wyatt Furda scored the team’s fourth goal to allow them to enjoy the last five minutes of the game and just skate on the Ball Arena floor.
 
This state championship is just the second 4A championship awarded since the sport was split into two classifications. Battle Mountain claimed the first 4A championship last year when the games were played at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland.
 
But more importantly for Cheyenne, this is a state championship 20 years in the making. Austin knows the feeling of winning as a player (he was a part of the 1996 Cheyenne Mountain championship team) and now he can add the honor as a coach.
 
He just wants the experience for his players to be as memorable as it was for him 26 years ago.
 
“I’m really happy for the guys,” Austin said. “I’m really happy they got to enjoy that last five minutes and know that they got to have one last shift.”
 
As for what’s next, it’s never too late to start thinking about next season.
 
“There’s always next year,” he said. “We want to keep winning. We’ll celebrate this one all offseason, but we’re coming back next year.”