AURORA – For Glenwood Springs, the memories of recent near-misses in pursuit of a 4A state championship in ice hockey are motivating moments.
“Especially for the senior group,” Glenwood Springs coach Tim Cota acknowledged. “We graduated a bigger group of seniors last year, and I think this group has something to prove. … I don’t think anybody expected us to be towards the top.”
And yet here are the Demons, just over halfway through the regular season and headed into a Tuesday night matchup at Caprock Academy, at 10-0-1 overall and first in the CHSAA Seeding Index rankings for 4A.
“I feel good about where we’re at,” Cota said. “There were a lot of holes to fill, and the young kids have stepped up. We’ve got great senior leadership that has helped the process along. It’s all gelled pretty nicely – a little quicker than what I thought it would. We’ve been playing well.
“We try to stay humble. The kids work hard. They work hard in the off-season. too. A lot of them are multi-sport athletes, which we encourage and support. We get a lot of encouragement and fan support, so the kids really like playing here. We seem to have a good culture.”
Glenwood Springs is one of several highly-ranked teams in pursuit of a first-ever state championship in ice hockey. Right behind the Demons in 4A are second-ranked Pine Creek and third-ranked Steamboat Springs. Kent Denver, ranked fourth, has one state title, in 2003.
In 5A, top-ranked Monarch won its only title in 2017, while second-ranked Poudre School District is seeking its first championship.
A number of traditional powers are lined up behind them.
The regular-season runs through Feb. 15, and the state championships cap post-season play on March 3.
“It’s so competitive,” Cota said. “Any of the top teams in 4A and 5A can win the whole thing. It’s that close.”
Glenwood Springs won 4-1 at Steamboat Springs on Saturday, but understands that regular-season success doesn’t always translate to post-season glory. The Demons beat Durango twice last season, extending their winning streak in the series to four games, but lost in the semifinals to Durango, which wound up winning it all.
“We had beaten them four times in a row and that’s always a worry of mine, because they’re a good hockey team and it’s hard to beat a good team five times in a row,” Cota said. “It was a good game, and their goaltender was solid, and they had some great skill up front.”
That came after a heartbreaking, 1-0, triple-overtime loss to Cheyenne Mountain in the 2023 championship game.
“That was a heckuva game,” Cota said, “a goaltending duel back and forth. In reflection, it was great to be part of, but it didn’t work out in our favor. But we don’t regret it at all.”
Glenwood Springs may have surprised some this season after graduation losses that included their senior goaltender.
But the Demons got a big lift with the return of Jacob Stockdill, who missed last season due to injury. Stockdill leads the team with 16 goals.
“He was rehabbing last year, and basically he was our team manager,” Cota said. “He worked hard all summer, played in a Denver league, and we have midget fall hockey before the high school season. So he’s worked hard to get to where he’s at. It’s good to have him back.
“I think he learned the appreciation of the game that comes when you don’t have it. Hockey has always been his No. 1 sport. It was definitely painful for him to sit on the bench or in the crowd, but he knew there was an end result, that he would have a senior year. He took it the right way, positively, and he’s back and we’re certainly happy to have him back.”
Stockdill has plenty of support.
Jacob Roggie has seven goals and team highs of 18 assists and 25 points, and four other players have scored at least four goals.
Meanwhile, freshman goalie Issac Zevin is 8-0-1 with a .928 save percentage and a 1.50 goals-against average.
“He’s done great,” Cota said. “We were definitely concerned about our goaltending because we’d had Marek Senn for a few years and he was so solid in there for us. Zevs has definitely filled that void and just built confidence. The seniors love playing around him, and it helps that we’ve got a good senior leadership group that contributes to that.”
Passing the torch from one class to the next is a big key in sustaining success.
“Sometimes the captains on my team have a lot of responsibility,” Cota said, chuckling. “They don’t always like it. Being a leader when you win is pretty easy, but when you lose it isn’t so easy. … But we keep the kids together. We have team meetings and we lift weights together. I try to keep them together as much as possible, just to develop that chemistry and so that they’re more than friends, they’re family. And they’ll all go out and battle for each other.”
Cota also credits the coaching staff, some of whom have served with him for 13 years, back to the days when Glenwood Springs competed in midget hockey and not in CHSAA play.
“I have a great coaching staff,” he said. “I can’t do it without those guys. We’ve got six or seven guys who share a lot of responsibility. Our parent group is great. They do a lot of work behind the scenes for us. It takes an army, and everyone has kind of bought in to the culture. Everyone has responsibilities. They know their roles and they do it for each other.”