The level of play in Colorado high school hockey continues rise, but the amount of talent for Aurora area programs continues to keep pace.
Two of the three local teams — the Cherry Creek co-op and Regis Jesuit — made it to the Class 5A Frozen Four for the second time in the past three seasons and the Bruins brought home the title with an impressive victory over No. 1 Poudre School District in a final played at Magness Arena.
The nucleus of the Cherry Creek team — seniors Owen Kulczewski, Matthew Lopez, Davis Ritter and goalie Mason Banks plus junior Ari Gelfand — combined with high-scoring junior Beau Paton of Regis Jesuit to form the 2025-26 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Ice Hockey Team, which is picked by the Sentinel in conjunction with balloting of local coaches.
Full 2025-26 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Ice Hockey Team, here
Coach Jeff Mielnicki’s Cherry Creek team — which included a few players from Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest and Smoky Hill — last hoisted the state championship trophy in 2015 and hadn’t even made it to a final since then. That changed this season with an extremely tight-knit group that defeated last season’s state champion in Valor Christian (which dealt the Bruins two losses in the second half of the regular season) and this season’s top seed in Poudre School District in its last two games.
A key ingredient in the championship run was desire and no player typified that more than Lopez, who said he would “put my body on the line to get a state championship.” He showed that in every minute of every shift and made it count when his team needed it the most in the postseason, when he had four goals and two assists to tie teammate Gelfand for most points among 5A players in the playoffs.
Three of Lopez’s goals came in the championship game victory and it gave him a total of 10 goals for the season to go with 19 assists and 29 points, all while he alternated between defense and offense.
The 29 points put Lopez nine behind Gelfand for the team lead, as the junior forward piled up 38 in 19 total games, which included 21 goals (second most among Aurora-area players and a total that included six credited game-winning goals) plus 17 assists.
Gelfand — a Colorado High School Activities Association 5A second team all-state pick — tied Lopez for the most points of any player in the postseason with six, which came on three goals and three assists.
Ritter finished third on the Cherry Creek team in total points with 28, which included a regular season in which he racked up nine goals and 15 assists. He assisted on two of the Bruin’s five goals in the championship game and he had at least one helper in every one of the team’s postseason games.
On the backline, Kulczewski (formerly of Grandview) was part of a group that allowed just 34 goals in the regular season, which was the second fewest of any team in the 5A classifications, and ceded just four in three postseason contests against elite offenses.
Kulczewski moved the puck well and also contributed offensively with a total of 10 points, which came via three goals and seven assists. Two of his assists came in the postseason.
Play in the nets also proved crucial, as Banks earned a spot on CHSAA’s 5A all-state first team for good reason. In the regular season, Banks was one of only two goaltenders in the state with 10 or more starts to finish with a Goals Against Average below 2.00 as his 1.90 fell only behind the 1.70 of Poudre School District’s Tucker Lourance, who he outdueled in the state championship game.
In the postseason, Banks was even better as he played every minute of three contests and allowed a total of just four goals (for a 1.27 GAA) and made 82 saves.
Banks earned 5A All-State first team honors from the Colorado High School Activities Association and he was stellar, especially in the postseason, when he allowed just four goals (with a 1.27 Goals Against Average) and made 82 saves.
For a Regis Jesuit team that made it back to its accustomed spot in the Frozen Four after a year absence, Paton provided top-tier firepower.
Coach Terry Ott’s Raiders (12-8-1) were not as productive offensively as in the previous season with a drop of nearly 10 total goals, but remained successful thanks to a quality defense. That also magnified the production of Paton, who was one of only three players in all of 5A to score 20 or more goals in the regular season.
Paton’s 20 goals ranked only behind the 34 of Mountain Vista’s Keegan Carnesi and the 32 of Denver East’s Nolan Darlington in the regular season and he did it with six multi-goal games, including a five-goal outburst in an early season win over Resurrection Christian. Paton added two goals in two playoff games and had a total of nine assists, giving him 31 points for the season.
SECOND TEAM: The All-Aurora second team included a trio of Regis Jesuit players in juniors Dylan Nash (forward) and Sam Wessel (defense), in addition to junior goaltender Easton Sparks, who had a monster postseason with 95 saves in two games. Senior forward Sean Badasyan also made it for Cherry Creek, while the Aurora area’s third program — Grandview — had two selections in junior forward Emilio Kukic (who had 21 points on 12 goals and nine assists) along with senior Eliot Seguin (7 goals, 5 assists) on defense.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
