CENTENNIAL | The season may change, but the intensity of the competition between the Cherry Creek co-op and Regis Jesuit ice hockey teams in recent years is always the same.
With a lot of familiarity between them, the Bruins and Raiders — the two squads that include players from around Aurora — always get up to play each other and the result more often than not comes down to an intense finish such as the one that took place Saturday afternoon at the Family Sports Center.
Senior Eric Burggraf (Grandview) netted a power play goal for Cherry Creek with just over four minutes left that produced a tie that would not be broken by overtime as the teams skated to a 2-2 early season tie. It was the third time in the last nine meetings between the teams that ended in a deadlock and two other games in that span were decided by a single goal.
Coach Jeff Mielnicki’s Bruins — who sit 2-1-1 two weeks in the season — also got a goal from Dominic Suchkov to rally from a 2-0 deficit against coach Terry Ott’s Raiders (1-0-1), whose goal scorers were Vincent Cieslak and Parker Brinner.
Regis Jesuit — which played a tournament in New York last week — picked up a 4-1 win Friday against Ralston Valley, but came away a little banged up.
Still, Ott was pleased with his team’s play for 33-plus of the 34 minutes between the first two periods, as Cieslak scored his third goal of the young season in the opening period and Brinner netted his first midway through the second period for a 2-0 advantage.
The Raiders came a second away from taking that lead into the second intermission, but instead it was just a one-goal edge after a bit of confusion on defense in the closing seconds allowed Dominic Suchkov to put a shot past freshman goalie Easton Sparks.
Regis Jesuit still had a lead and tried to close it out, but a pivotal sequence took place with just under five minutes left in the game. Suchkov took the puck away in his own end and drew a tripping penalty, while Burggraf got to the puck before the whistle and he also drew a tripping penalty.
Cherry Creek had the option of a 5-on-3 advantage or a penalty shot and chose the penalty shot, which was unsuccessful when Sparks forced Suchkov into a backhander that went wide. The Bruins then went on the power play and scored just over a minute into it when Daniil Korobeynikov’s shot was saved and came out to Burggraf, who put it away.
The game went to overtime and neither team could finish despite prime chances, as Regis Jesuit senior Ian Beck got denied on a point blank shot and Cherry Creek senior Billy O’Grady (Grandview) carried the puck from one end of the ice through the heart of the defense to the other before his shot went just wide.
Sparks finished with 35 saves, while Cherry Creek senior Dylan Eldridge (Cherokee Trail) turned aside 20 of the 22 shots he faced.
The teams meet again on the same ice at 5:40 p.m. on Feb. 2.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
CHERRY CREEK 2, REGIS JESUIT 2 (OT)
Score by periods:
Regis Jesuit 1 1 0 0 — 2
Cherry Creek 0 1 1 0 — 2
SCORING
First period
Regis Jesuit — Vincent Cieslak (Edison Barnes), 3:01
Second period
Regis Jesuit — Parker Brinner (Ian Beck, Nolan Williams), 8:03
Cherry Creek — Dominic Suchkov (Austin Katz, Cooper Huang), 0:01
Third period
Cherry Creek — Eric Burggraf (power play) (Suchkov, Daniil Korobeynikov), 3:28
Saves: Regis Jesuit — Easton Sparks (37 shots on goal-35 saves). Cherry Creek — Dylan Eldridge (22 shots on goal-20 saves)
