LITTLETON | The Cherry Creek co-op ice hockey team is Frozen Four-bound for the third straight season after a shutout win Wednesday evening at South Suburban Sports Complex.
The third-seeded Bruins scored very early in their quarterfinal matchup with sixth-seeded Mountain Vista and added a goal in each successive period for a 3-0 victory that garnered a spot in Saturday’s semifinals.
Senior Sean Badasyan scored what turned out to the winning goal just 2 minutes, 26 seconds, into the contest and assisted on a second period score from senior Matthew Lopez and an empty-net goal for junior Ari Gelfand in the third for coach Jeff Mielnicki’s Bruins, who featured the majority of players from Cherry Creek plus some from Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest and Smoky Hill.
Senior goaltender Mason Banks stopped all 22 shots he faced in the net for the Bruins.
Cherry Creek’s win put it opposite second-seeded and defending 5A state champion Valor Christian in a 7 p.m. semifinal Saturday at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs. An earlier semifinal pits No. 4 Regis Jesuit against No. 1 Poudre School District.
Updated 2026 Class 5A state ice playoff scoreboard and schedule, here
Cherry Creek had wrapped up its regular season two weeks earlier with a 2-0 win over Cheyenne Mountain, but showed no rust in the opening minutes against Mountain Vista, which had upset Ralston Valley in the opening round.
The Bruins went on the power play very early in the contest thanks to a hooking call on the Golden Eagles’ Palmieri Thomas and wasted little time converting.
Cherry Creek pinged the puck around and Badasyan redirected it into the net just 15 seconds into the man advantage to give his team the lead.
Lopez doubled the lead with just over minutes left in the second period and the Bruins survived Mountain Vista’s desperate attempt to rally and sealed it when Gelfand scored into the empty net inside the final minute.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 5A STATE ICE HOCKEY QUARTERFINAL
(3) CHERRY CREEK 3, (6) MOUNTAIN VISTA 0
Score by periods:
Mtn. Vista 0 0 0 — 0
Cherry Creek 1 1 1 — 3
SCORING
First period
Cherry Creek — Sean Badasyan (Davis Ritter, Owen Kulczewski), 14:14
Second period
Cherry Creek — Matthew Lopez (Ari Gelfand, Badasyan), 5:03
Third period
Cherry Creek — Gelfand (Badasyan) (empty net), 0:54
Mountain Vista saves: Kuper Anderson (23 shots on goal-21 saves). Cherry Creek saves: Mason Banks (22 shots on goal-22 saves)
