LOVELAND — The 2021 hockey season concluded at the Budweiser Events Center where Battle Mountain and Valor Christian won state championships.
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LOVELAND — This time, it wasn’t going to take five overtimes. Valor Christian found a more efficient way to get around Sam Simon and because of that, the Eagles are hockey champions once again.
Ryan Kayser scored twice, but it was Jameson Charles with a laser that got by Simon with 2:36 remaining in the third period to give Valor a 4-3 win over Fort Collins in the Class 5A hockey state championship game.
“I’m proud of these guys,” coach George Gwozdecky said. “Anytime you can win your last game of the season, it’s a heck of an accomplishment. Considering they’re defending a championship, that’s even tougher to do.”
Defending the title put a lot of pressure on the Eagles. Heading in, they were aware of the capabilities of Simon. They were fortunate a year ago that one goal did the trick, but at no point did they think that’d be the case in this rematch at the Budweiser Events Center.
“One hundred percent,” Kayser said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be just one. It was going to take four, five, six. We wanted to do whatever it took.”
Neither team found a scoring foothold in the first period and it was Aidan Beck breaking the scoreless tie, tipping the puck by Jace Ruth early in the second.
“That top line of theirs is really dynamic,” Gwozdecky said. “If we were going to give ourselves a chance, we had to shut them down and we didn’t do a very good job of that.”
But they were able to keep pace. The Eagles scored back to back goals as Kayser got his first and Pahos put the Eagles up 2-1 before Beck netted his second to tie the game after two periods.
A power play goal from Kayser put the Eagles back on top before Dennis White pulled the Lambkins even once again.
After an apparent goal got waved off, the Eagles moved with a bit more urgency and that’s when Charles fired a laser that got by Simon, sending the Valor fans into a frenzy.
“I thought mine was going to get called off, so I didn’t get too excited,” he said. “Our momentum was getting that goal back that we lost.”
They got it back and they didn’t give it up.
It’s the second straight championship win for Valor as they beat Fort Collins 1-0 in the final CHSAA unclassified championship game a year ago.
That game took five overtimes before Pahos broke the scoreless tie.
The Eagles were able to put 40 shots on the net through the course of the game, far fewer than the 80-plus they put on Simon last year. But this year just yielded better results.
To their credit, the Lambkins were more efficient offensively than they were a year ago as they put 19 shots on net, getting three of them past Ruth.
No. 1 seed Valor Christian beat No. 4 Highlands Ranch 66-45 in the Class 5A girls basketball Final 4.
Mullen girls basketball beat Holy Family 75-50 in the Class 4A Final 4.
Montrose boys basketball is headed to the 4A championship game following its 48-33 win over Longmont.
Windsor girls basketball beat Green Mountain 70-44 in the 4A Final 4, and now heads to the championship game.
Regis Jesuit girls basketball beat Grandview 73-69 to advance to the 5A state championship game.
LOVELAND — All night it just felt like someone was going to score with a man advantage. That worked out well for Crested Butte’s Jack Lambert and also scared him late in the third period.
Lambert scored a power play goal then was sent to the penalty box and watched as Cheyenne Mountain frantically tried to tie the game. But it couldn’t be done. Lambert’s goal was the game winner as No. 1 Crested Butte advanced to the Class 4A hockey championship game with a 4-2 win over No. 4 Cheyenne Mountain at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland.
Cheyenne Mountain got on the board early thanks to a Wyatt Furda goal. But the Titans weren’t phased and knew they had plenty of time to battle back.
“It’s happened a couple of times this season where we’ve been down in the first period, even down in the second period,” Lambert said. “We all know what we can do when we have our heads up. When our heads are down, we collapse.”
They kept their heads up after that first Cheyenne Mountain goal. Rowan Piccaro tied the game two minutes later then added a goal in the second period to give the Titans a 2-1 lead.
Noah Bonnett got the equalizer at 5:48 in the third period on an overtime goal. An interference call on Denton Damgaard gave the Titans a man advantage and Lambert was quick to take advantage, scoring just 23 seconds into the power play.
“I was just thinking don’t miss,” Lambert said. “Fortunately enough, I didn’t.”
He got sent to the penalty box soon after and watched nervously as Cheyenne Mountain did everything possible to tie the game, but to no avail.
This is the first state championship game in program history for Crested Butte.
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The first 4A state title game in Colorado history was solidified as Battle Mountain advanaced with a 12-0 win over Kent Denver.
Carter Large jammed a loose puck into the Kent Denver net at at 6:09 in the first period and Nate Bishop scored with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third. That was more than enough for Huskies goalie Logan Gremmer.
Gremmer faced 23 shots and stopped them all to give Battle Mountain a much-desired rematch against Crested Butte. The Titans beat the Huskies 5-1 back on March 9, the final game of the regular season for both teams.
The win on Thursday was the first time all year that Battle Mountain had shut an opponent out.
For the Huskies, this is their third trip to a state hockey championship game. They played for titles in 2002 and 2008. Each time they lost by just a goal, first to Cheyenne Mountain then to Regis Jesuit.
Neither Battle Mountain or Crested Butte have won a state hockey championship so either way, history will be when the puck drops for the game at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
LOVELAND — The Class 4A hockey championship game is set as No. 1 Crested Butte and No. 3 Battle Mountain will meet for the title.
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Spectator information for the 2021 state basketball championship games, set for Saturday and Sunday at World Arena in Colorado Springs, has been announced.
Schools will each have the ability to have 75 spectators each. Due to capacity limitations, there are no tickets available for the general public at the state basketball championships.
Tickets for qualifying teams will be distributed through each school’s athletic director.