Regis Jesuit advanced to Saturday’s championship game by beating Mountain Vista in the semifinals. More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
LOVELAND — Regis Jesuit hockey scored three second-period goals en route to a semifinal victory over Mountain Vista on Thursday.
The Raiders (21-1-0) beat Mountain Vista 4-2 at the Budweiser Events Center to advance to Saturday’s championship, where they’ll face Monarch.
The game was scoreless after the first period before Regis Jesuit broke through in the second frame.
“It was a challenge, because two goals is not a good enough lead on that team, and we were fortunate to get the third,” Regis Jesuit coach Dan Woodley said after the game. “We were fortunate to go into that third period maybe a goal up from where we might have been.”
The third goal, especially, was critical. Michael Baer scored off a set play with four seconds left in the period.
“We were real fortunate,” Woodley said. “We had a special line out there. Michael Baer is one of our best shooters, and he just reached for a puck and snapped it off. That thing was a bullet.”
Cale Woodley broke open the scoreless game with a rebound goal on the power play 3:45 into the second period. Jack Jordan followed that five minutes later, and then Baer’s goal made it 3-0 head to the third period.
In that period, Mountain Vista’s Ryan Lindemann scored twice, but those goals were sandwiched around a five-hole snipe from Kyle Nelson, and Regis Jesuit held on to win. Nelson also had two assists on Thursday.
Raiders goalie Sam Gartner made 17 saves to secure the win. Mountain Vista’s Brandon Sego had 26 stops.
More photos (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Regis Jesuit moves on to play a familiar foe in Monarch, which advance to the championship game with a 6-2 win over Ralston Valley. The Coyotes are 22-0-0 this season, including a 3-0 win over Regis Jesuit on Feb. 6.
“We really have a lot of respect for that team,” Woodley said. “We have obviously got three years of history with them. We know a lot of their players, and respect them. It’s going to be a real epic game.
“I think our team can come out and play a little bit better than we played tonight. And maybe that’ll be enough, we’ll see.”
Monarch and Regis Jesuit were the top teams in CHSAANow.com’s coaches poll all season long. It makes for a fitting finale.
“It is fitting,” Woodley said. “They’re, what, 22-0? And we’re 21-1 — and our only loss is to them. That (earlier) game, we did have some opportunities, and their goalie played fantastic, and that can happen. It can also happen the other way. I guess we’ll have to see (Saturday), but it’ll be a fantastic game.”