HIGHLANDS RANCH | For nearly two periods of Wednesday evening’s Class 5A state quarterfinal, the rust of an 11-day layoff clung to the Regis Jesuit ice hockey team, while Standley Lake sailed with momentum.
The top-seeded Raiders — coming off a first round bye that created an long hiatus since their regular season finale Feb. 17 — found themselves in a 1-1 deadlock with the eighth-seeded Gators, who came in fresh from an intense victory in the opening round.
Junior forward Vincent Cieslak made sure Regis Jesuit took a positive feeling into the lockerroom before intermission with a power play goal and it turned into an avalanche from there. The Raiders went on to score four straight goals and five in total in the third period to pull away for a 7-2 victory.
Cieslak finished with a hat trick, while seniors Luke Damrath and Reece Peterson and juniors Zachary Lorenzo and Avery Osgood also tallied goals for coach Terry Ott’s Regis Jesuit team, which moved into a Frozen Four contest at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the same venue against No. 4 Monarch, a 4-2 winner over No. 12 Heritage. No. 2 Valor Christian and No. 3 Cherry Creek (story, here) picked up quarterfinal wins Tuesday night and will play their semifinal at 7 p.m.
CLASS 5A STATE ICE HOCKEY SCOREBOARD & SCHEDULE, HERE
Regis Jesuit played its first game since Feb. 17 against Resurrection Christian and found it a challenge to get going against Standley Lake, which topped ninth-seeded Castle View 4-3 in the opening round. The Raiders ended up with a rematch with the Gators, who they defeated 6-0 on Jan. 20.
It took until just 3:39 left in the opening period for the first goal, which came for Regis Jesuit on a strong individual effort from Damrath. The senior defenseman broke in from the right of Standley Lake goalie Mason Bean and slipped one into the net.
Bean kept it a one-goal game a minute later when he got a stick on a shot by junior Nolan Williams on a perfect pass from junior Zachary Lorenzo.
The Gators roared back to tie in the second period when a shot by Regis Jesuit senior Reece Peterson pinged loudly off the post and bounced out, which sparked a rush the other way. A headman pass found the stick of Nathan Cardenas, who lifted it over Raiders’ freshman goalie Easton Sparks for a goal.
The game remained deadlocked until the final minute of the period, when Regis Jesuit got a power play chance and converted in just 15 seconds. Cieslak ripped a shot that finally eluded Bean, who had been up to the challenge on a variety of shots earlier in the period.
With that shot of momentum, the Raiders poured it on in the third period with four goals in a span of 4 minutes, 45 seconds, to take firm control. Peterson was the first to score, while Cieslak and Lorenzo scored just 32 seconds apart to expand the lead to 5-0 and Cieslak completed his hat track with 10:24 left.
Osgood capped the scoring with a power play goal with 6:39 left.
Standley Lake got one back on a power play goal by Rylan Mills, who finally got one past Sparks, who had been solid since he yielded the breakaway goal in the second period. Sparks finished with 23 saves in his postseason debut.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(1) REGIS JESUIT 7, (8) STANDLEY LAKE 2
Score by periods:
Standley Lake 0 1 1 — 2
Regis Jesuit 1 1 5 — 7
SCORING
First period: Regis Jesuit — Luke Damrath, 3:39
Second period: Standley Lake — Nathan Cardenas (Daniel Glushko), 13:03; Regis Jesuit — Vincent Cieslak (power play), 0:18
Third period: Regis Jesuit — Reece Peterson (Cieslak), 15:09; Regis Jesuit — Cieslak (Harry Sorensen), 12:37; Regis Jesuit — Zachary Lorenzo (Alexander Warot, Avery Osgood), 12:05; Regis Jesuit — Cieslak (Edison Barnes, Peterson), 10:24; Standley Lake — Rylan Mills (Logan Jackson, Erik Glushko) (power play), 8:48; Regis Jesuit — Avery Osgood (Ian Beck) (power play), 6:39
Standley Lake saves: Mason Bean (32 shots on goal-25 saves). Regis Jesuit saves: Easton Sparks (25 shots on goal-23 saves)
