Mountain Vista players celebrate their win over Ralston Valley on Friday. More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
LITTLETON — They couldn’t get enough of the ice. So after taking down the two-time defending champions, after ending perhaps the most impressive winning streak in recent high school hockey history in this state, they returned to it with their fans.
And they celebrated.
Mountain Vista hockey beat Ralston Valley 4-3 on Friday night. The win ended Ralston Valley’s 38-game winning streak, as well as the Mustangs’ 42-game unbeaten streak.
The Golden Eagles, ranked No. 7 in this week’s CHSAANow.com poll, did it after being down 2-0 in the second period, and 3-2 in the third. They did it after weathering a two-minute 5-on-3 opportunity.
Top-ranked Ralston’s streak “didn’t really pop up until today,” said Mountain Vista goalie Tanner Munn, who made 33 saves. “We come to play hockey, and it doesn’t matter who we play. We’re going to show up and play our game.”
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
“I didn’t really bring it up,” said Mountain Vista co-coach Joel Weeks. “I actually told the boys, ‘It’s just another game, another chance to play hockey with your buddies.'”
But — “They all knew it, for sure. With social media, they all knew it,” Weeks added. “We definitely tried to downplay it as coaches. It’s not a state championship game. It’s a game to send a message that we’re here to compete.”
Mountain Vista’s program started in 2011-12. Its been to the quarterfinals each season of play, but no further. Not to overstate the importance of one win, but finally knocking off Ralston Valley — the program in the sport over the past two-plus seasons — could signal the Golden Eagles are ready to take the next step.
Friday, Ralston Valley seized a 1-0 lead on Stefan Fruhwirth’s tip on the power-play early in a first period. It was a period in which Mountain Vista looked unorganized, and almost disinterested.
“The first period, the message inbetween was, ‘They haven’t seen us yet. We haven’t played hockey,'” Weeks said.
When RV made it 2-0 just over two minutes into the second period, you could almost write the script. The Mustangs had done this to so many teams over the past few seasons — grab an early lead, then squeeze.
But Nicholas Vitale answered 1:10 later on a wrist shot from the point that found its way past Ralston Valley goalie Scott Albertoni, who was screened.
Three minutes after that, Aiden Kirby knocked home a rebound after a scramble in front of the net. 2-2.
As the frame ticked on, Ralston Valley found itself going on a 5-on-3 power play. Just under four minutes remained in the period. Here was a chance to not only take the lead, but to potentially bury Mountain Vista.
Instead, Munn and the Mountain Vista penalty kill turned the Mustangs away. In fact, Ralston Valley managed just one shot during the entire two-minute, two-man advantage.
“And all of a sudden,” Weeks said, “you can feel that ice tilt, and you get hungrier.”
“It definitely game us some energy,” Munn said, “some positive energy.”
Mountain Vista had seized the momentum going into the second intermission. And yet, it was Ralston Valley — Cody Noel, shorthanded — which took a 3-2 lead 3:38 into the third.
“We told ourselves we were going to face adversity in the third period,” said Bryan Hancock, Mountain Vista’s captain. “We turned to our team and we were like, ‘Alright boys, we knew we were going to face this.’ And everybody just went stone-faced, got focused, we got ready to go back on the ice, and we turned it around just like that.”
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Hancock himself provided the answer a minute-and-a-half after Noel’s tally, his snap-shot off the faceoff beating a screened Albertoni on the far side, just above his blocker. Jake Dosen won the faceoff cleanly to set Hancock up.
“He told me exactly where to be. I was there,” Hancock said. “I knew the goalie was going to go down fast, so I just put it in the far side.”
As with Mountain Vista’s other goals, the winner came with a lot of traffic in front.
A group of Ralston Valley players in front of the net tried to clear the puck with Mountain Vista players bearing down. It bounced just outside the crease, and appeared as though a RV player inadvertently knocked it into his own net. Dosen was credited with the goal.
“Our whole mentality is dirty goals,” Hancock said. “We don’t want the fancy, dipsy-doodle goals. We want the dirty goals. So we have guys going to the net all the time.”
The win moves Mountain Vista to 9-1-1 this season, and rights a ship that temporarily went off-course with a 7-4 loss to Doherty last week.
“We lost earlier in the week, and we had to make a statement that we’re legit, we’re here, we’re ready to play,” Hancock said.
“Our team really is bonding this last half of the season,” he added. “We’ve started to turn it around and become a team, and it’s really, really fun. It’s fun to be a part of.”
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)