AURORA | Capsule preview of the 2025 Class 5A state ice hockey quarterfinal between Regis Jesuit and Cherry Creek scheduled to be played on Feb. 25, 2025, at South Suburban Ice Arena:
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2025 CLASS 5A STATE ICE HOCKEY QUARTERFINAL
NO. 5 REGIS JESUIT (11-7-1) VS. NO. 4 CHERRY CREEK (11-6-2)
Feb. 25, 5:10 p.m. at South Suburban Ice Arena
BREAKDOWN: Regis Jesuit and Cherry Creek meet in the postseason for the first time since the Cherry Creek program returned to the ice in 2012-13 after a two-decade hiatus. …Historically, Regis Jesuit sits alone in second place in the Colorado High School Activities Association recordbooks with seven all-time state championships (including last season’s title, which was its first since 2019), which ranks only behind the 15 won by Cheyenne Mountain. Despite its lengthy absence, Cherry Creek’s 2015 state championship was its fourth, which makes it third all-time. …Regis Jesuit needs a victory to make it to the state’s Frozen Four (semifinals) for what would be the 17th time in the past 18 seasons. The only time the Raiders missed out came with a quarterfinal loss in the 2021-22 season. …Cherry Creek has made it to the Frozen Four four times in the previous 11 seasons after missing the playoffs in its first season since its return. The Bruins lost to Valor Christian in last season’s semifinals. …Though the area teams haven’t played in the postseason, they have played twice in the regular season for many years. This season, they played to a 2-2 tie before winter break, then Regis Jesuit got a three-goal performance from senior Nolan Williams in a 5-3 win Jan. 24. The teams have played to a tie in each of the past three seasons and Cherry Creek’s last win came in the 2022-23 season.
REGIS JESUIT: Coach Terry Ott’s Raiders defeated No. 2 Monarch in their regular season finale and followed that with a 3-1 victory over No. 12 Lewis-Palmer in the first round, which stretched their postseason winning streak to four games dating back to a semifinal loss to Valor Christian in the 2022-23 season. Senior Avery Osgood scored the go-ahead and insurance goals against Lewis-Palmer, while sophomore goalie Easton Sparks stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced in the net. Senior Harry Sorensen had the other goal for the Raiders. …For the season, senior Nolan Williams leads Regis Jesuit offensively with 15 goals, while is followed by Osgood with nine and seniors Sorensen, Parker Brinner and Vincent Cieslak have tallied eight apiece. Brinner is the team’s points leader with 26 (including a team-high 18 assists), while Cieslak has 25 (with 17 assists) and Williams (9 assists) has 24. …Sparks was in the goal for all three wins that netted last season’s state championship and he is coming off a regular season in which he finished 7-5-1 with a 2.90 Goals Against Average. Sparks played in both games against Cherry Creek this season and made 57 saves on 62 shots against.
CHERRY CREEK: Coach Jeff Mielnicki’s Bruins — a mixture of players from several Cherry Creek School District schools minus Grandview, which had a varsity team for the first time this season — lost to No. 1 Poudre School District in its regular season finale and had an 11-day hiatus until the quarterfinal due to a first round bye. …For the season, senior Jack (Garrett) Linville leads the Cherry Creek offense with 11 goals, however he has played in just 11 games and missed the regular season finale. Senior Austin Katz joins Linville in double figures in goals with 10, while seniors Harry Frangiskakis and Cooper Huang and junior Carter Sharkey (Cherokee Trail) have seven apiece. Katz has added 11 assists to his 10 goals to lead the team in points with 21, while Linville has 20 (which includes nine assists) and Sharkey also as 11 assists and ranks third with 18 points. Sophomore Ari Gelfand paces the team in assists with 13. …The Bruins deployed two goaltenders consistently throughout the season, with senior Payton Mills (Overland) making the most starts with 12 and junior Mason Banks next with seven. Mills owns a 2.35 Goals Against Average, while Banks’ is just slightly higher at 2.42. Both had starts against Regis Jesuit in the regular season and Mills made 37 saves on 39 shots in a 2-2 tie, while Banks made 25 saves on 30 shots in a 5-3 loss.
WINNER GETS: The Regis Jesuit-Cherry Creek winner moves into the March 1 Frozen Four at Ed Hobson Arena on the campus of Colorado College to play either No. 1 Poudre School District or No. 8 Mountain Vista.
