Cherry Creek and Dakota Ridge are among a host of contenders this season. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
The 2013-14 hockey season emerges from its annual winter break on Thursday. We take a look at where things stand:
Ralston Valley, last season’s champion, has just about rolled through its entire 2013 schedule. So have Monarch — last season’s runner-up — Mountain Vista and Regis Jesuit.
Those four teams are all winning games by an average of at least 6.6 goals thus far. (Monarch is winning games by an average of 10.6 goals; Mountain Vista by 9 goals.)
These teams are dominant — so far. Regis, Monarch and Mountain Vista have only played three games; Ralston Valley has played four. Thus, these stats don’t so much reveal a trend, but rather a lack of data.
So here’s what we’re saying: It’s early. Very early. Those four teams are very much contenders to win this season’s championship. But they aren’t alone.
Steamboat Springs. (Mark Adams)
There’s also:
- Lewis-Palmer (7-1-0). The Rangers have a number of quality wins — Standley Lake (3-2-1), Bishop Machebeuf (3-2-1), Resurrection Christian (4-2-0) — and the lone loss came to Ralston Valley, 5-2. That was the Mustangs’ closest contest of the season thus far.
- Cherry Creek (5-1-1). The Bruins’ lone loss came 4-3 to Mountain Vista in overtime on Dec. 20; their tie came with Dakota Ridge (4-0-2) on Dec. 11.
- Dakota Ridge (4-0-2). As noted above, one tie came with Creek, the other with Columbine (5-0-1).
- And others on the bubble, such as Pueblo County (5-0-2), Columbine (5-0-1), Battle Mountain (4-1-1) and Steamboat Springs (4-3-0).
Surprise team: Columbine.
The Rebels are unbeaten, and have already matched their win total from last season, when they went 5-14-0. Furthermore, the program was 20-69-2 (.211) from 2008-09 to last season.
“By far the best start we’ve ever had. Absolutely,” said Columbine coach Chris Gassman, who is now in his third season at the helm. “We’ve gotten better every year I’ve been there, but this is by far the best one.
“We are definitely a surprise to everybody.”
At the break, Columbine is tied for second in the Foothills Conference with four points. (Only conference games count toward the point total, and the Rebels are 2-0-0. Cherry Creek leads with five points at 2-0-1.) The Rebels are ranked No. 5 in the most recent CHSAANow.com poll.
“Would I say I saw us starting out undefeated? No,” Gassman said. “But … we feel we’re a top-5 team in the conference this year, just with the kids we’ve got coming back.”
The difference? Prior to the season, Gassman and coaches from Cherry Creek and Regis Jesuit put together a “preseason” league. Six high school teams competed as club teams — Cherry Creek, Cheyenne Mountain, Columbine, Heritage, Regis Jesuit and Resurrection Christian. Each team played the others two times.
Columbine’s team also played a few preseason tournaments, and ended up playing “20-something games preseason-wise,” Gassman said.
“Instead of only having two or three weeks (together) before the season started, we had three months,” Gassman said. “It gave us basically a season before CHSAA started.”
So now, Columbine is already in mid-season form.
“We’ve got pretty much the same group from last season, I think we added like five kids. It’s kind of the same good, solid group for a while,” Gassman said. “Something clicked, and they’re starting to figure it out.”
Among Columbine’s wins are Steamboat Springs, which at one point was ranked, and Heritage, which is just on the fringe of the most recent poll. There’s also the tie with Dakota Ridge. Still, there isn’t yet a defining win. They get that chance with a game against Mountain Vista on Saturday. Six days later, Ralston Valley awaits.
“We’re right back into it, right away,” Gassman said.
Brothers Jacob Seibold and Logan Seibold both have seven points thus far to lead the team. Jacob has five goals and two assists, Logan has three goals and four assists.
The Rebels have also had outstanding goaltending via senior Ashton Opperman (2-0-1, 0.31 GAA), Forest Czarnecki (2-0-0, 2.68) and Evan King (1-0-0, 2.65).
“Ashton has been the backup the last couple of years, and this year, he has just kind of taken the team by himself. He has been unbelievable,” Gassman said. “Our other two kids … they’ve both given us a chance to win in every game we’ve played.
“Goaltending has not been any part of a discussion or issue with this team, at all. It’s been nothing to worry about at all. It’s been fantastic.”
Gassman said Opperman will likely play the majority of the games as the season heats up.
Looking ahead: Things are really going to start taking shape as soon as this weekend. In addition to the Columbine game, Mountain Vista also plays Regis Jesuit on Friday.
There’s also Monarch at Battle Mountain on Friday, and Ralston Valley at Cherry Creek on Saturday.
We’ll start to get a good idea of where each team falls with each passing week. But things will happen fast: the regular season ends Feb. 15.
Points
T1. Sam Horning (Palmer): 17
T1. Jack Longenecker (Bishop Machebeuf): 17
T3. DJ Jones (Lewis-Palmer): 15
T3. Julain Claudio (Lewis-Palmer): 15
5. Ryan Case (Cheyenne Mountain): 15
Goals
1. Sam Horning (Palmer): 13
T2. DJ Jones (Lewis-Palmer): 10
T2. Isaac Ruybal (Pueblo County): 10
T4. Nick Rems (Bishop Machebeuf): 9
T4. Cody Oakes (Cherry Creek): 9
T4. Tim VanTuinen (Resurrection Christian): 9
Assists
1. Casey McMullin (Lewis-Palmer): 13
2. Jack Longenecker (Bishop Machebeuf): 11
T3. Julain Claudio (Lewis-Palmer): 8
T3. Zach Lish (Resurrection Christian): 8
T3. Nicholas Moewes (Pueblo County): 8
Wins
1. Brandon Crisp (Pueblo County): 5
T2. Trent Trask (Steamboat Springs): 4
T2. Andrew Karnes (Lewis-Palmer): 4
GAA
1. Marcus Smith (Lewis-Palmer): 0.00
2. Ashton Opperman (Columbine): 0.31
3. Bailey Aust (Monarch): 0.50
4. Sam Gartner (Regis Jesuit): 0.67
5. Quinton Reynolds (Cherry Creek): 0.73
SV%
1. Marcus Smith (Lewis-Palmer): 1.000
2. Ashton Opperman (Columbine): .991
3. Quinton Reynolds (Cherry Creek): .966
4. Cody Trujillo (Chatfield): .957
5. Jeff Hart (Dakota Ridge): .947