LITTLETON | Sophomore Matthew Backus brought an end to a marathon Class 5A state ice hockey quarterfinal Wednesday night to send Regis Jesuit to the Frozen Four.
The fourth-seeded Raiders got a tying goal late in the third period from senior Alexander Warot to get even with fifth-seeded Denver East at the South Suburban Sports Complex and three-plus extra sessions later got the game-winner.
Junior Beau Paton also had a goal and junior goalie Easton Sparks made 57 saves as coach Terry Ott’s Regis Jesuit team outlasted the Angels and returned to the semifinals after missing out last season.
“That one certainly went past my bedtime,” joked Ott as the program advanced to the Frozen Four for the 17th time since 2008 and remains in the hunt for its eighth all-time state championship.
Next up for Regis Jesuit (12-7-1) is a semifinal with No. 1 Poudre School District (17-2-1) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs. The other semifinal at 7 p.m. features defending state champion and second-seeded Valor Christian (16-3-1) against No. 3 Cherry Creek (16-3-1).
The semifinal winners move into a 7:30 p.m. March 2 contest at Magness Arena.
Denver East won its opening round game 6-0 and came out with some definite jump against the Raiders, who played their first game in 11 days.
The Angels got on the board first in the opening period on Quentin Gruber’s goal and held that lead until the late stages of the second period when Paton got the equalizer.
“The first half of the game we were on our heels, but after Beau scored that first goal, I thought the guys got rid of nerves and settled in,” Ott said. “All year, to their credit, this team has been really resilient and responded well to difficult circumstances.”
Denver East again went in front on Leyton Kyelberg’s early third period goal that looked like it could hold up as the game-winner. That was until a flurry by Regis Jesuit — just before Ott was prepared to pull his goalie for an extra attacker — in which Warot knocked in a rebound of his own initial shot that was stopped by Angels netminder Barrett Smithburger with just 2:31 remaining in regulation.
Neither team scored in three successive eight-minute overtimes before the fourth one started with each team with four players and a goalie on the ice.
In the decisive sequence, sophomore Alexander Stellino rocketed up the right side of the ice and curled behind the goal, where his shot was stopped. He got the puck back and fed it out high to Paton, whose open shot squarely hit Smithburger in the chest and went down to the ice, where Backus nudged it just over the goal line for the golden goal.
“Before we talked about the ups and downs of games like these and managing them when they happen,” Ott said. “As the game goes that long, it is about managing those things, but also who is cramping and who still has their legs. You’re looking for an advantage and an opportunity to catch the other team and hopefully your team is ready to go.”
Next up is a rematch for Regis Jesuit with a senior-heavy Poudre School District team that the Raiders dealt a 3-2 road defeat (one of just two the co-op team had on the season) in the regular season finale.
Ott said the PSD team had already wrapped up the No. 1 seed before that game and he sensed less urgency in that contest, so he expects a different look this time.
“I expect them to play better than what we saw up there,” he said. “I expect us to play like we have over the last month and see what happens.”
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
Feb. 25 at South Suburban Sports Complex
(4) REGIS JESUIT 3, (5) DENVER EAST 2 (4OT)
Score by periods:
Denver East 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 2
Regis Jesuit 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 — 3
SCORING
First period
Denver East — Quentin Gruber (Nolan Darlington, Andrew Ennis), 7:04
Second period
Regis Jesuit — Beau Paton (Charlie Grall), 3:55
Third period
Denver East — Leyton Kyelberg (Maxwell Fletcher, Raul Galadzhian), 13:34
Regis Jesuit — Alexander Warot (Andrew Brennick), 2:31
Fourth overtime
Regis Jesuit — Matthew Backus (Paton, Alexander Stellino), 5:04
Denver East saves: Barrett Smithburger (40 shots on goal-37 saves). Regis Jesuit saves: Easton Sparks (59 shots on goal-57 saves)
