DENVER | An empty net goal turned out to be the one that landed the Regis Jesuit ice hockey team its seventh state championship.
The Raiders were poised to add to their all-time title collection — which ranks as the second-most in all of Colorado — with a goal lead into the final minute of their tight clash with rival Valor Christian at Magness Arena before a wild finish March 5.
The teams combined for three goals in the final 57 seconds of a frenetic finish that saw Regis Jesuit finish on top 3-1 to claim the Class 5A state title.
“Monumental,” Raiders head coach Terry Ott said of the win, the first for the program since 2019 and his first since taking over for original coach Dan Woodley.
“I couldn’t be more proud of a group in terms of what they’ve done in reestablishing the hockey culture the last couple of years. Not that it went south…but the part about being a team. These guys really reestablished what it means to be a team. And teams win championships.”
Regis Jesuit won state titles in 2008 and 2009, 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2019 — all before the state was split into 5A and 4A classifications — but hadn’t advanced past the Frozen Four since then. Part of that was because of Valor Christian, which defeated the Raiders in the semifinals in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
That changed this season when they ended up on opposite sides of the bracket — Regis Jesuit as the No. 1 seed and Valor Christian as the No. 2 — and earned the chance to face each other for the title.
The Eagles’ fifth straight state championship game and the first for the Raiders in five years was tight in the early going, as expected, given that the teams split two regular season contests.
Valor Christian got the first break of the game when it was awarded a penalty shot, which was taken by its leading scorer, Maddux Charles. Regis Jesuit goaltender Easton Sparks — a freshman — kept his pads low as Charles approached and stuffed the attempt.
The chants of “He’s a freshman!” came from the Regis Jesuit faithful.
“I was scared, that was their best player,” Sparks said. “I grew up playing with that kid and I thought he was going to shoot it, so I thought just challenge him and I made the save. I got the chants and I knew we were going to take this home.”
Sparks’ confidence continued to grow as he turned aside some prime chances, while his veteran defense limited second chances. A penalty-filled first period — which saw three power play chances for Valor Christian and two for Regis Jesuit — ended in a scoreless deadlock, which remained until there was just over a minute gone in the second period.
Senior forward Reece Peterson took a feed from fellow senior Ian Beck as he gained speed across the blue line and he shoveled the puck past Eagles’ goaltender Trudeaux Coffey to put the Raiders on the scoreboard first.
“It was surreal, there’s nothing like it,” Peterson said. “I was planning on doing a celebration, but I’m so glad my team came up and tackled me. Then I got to go up to the student section and they were all going crazy. I was so happy to do it for these boys and for the school.”
Peterson felt another brief surge of joy — followed by disbelief — a few seconds later when he came upon a loose puck and also appeared to put it past Coffey. The puck appeared to hit inside the goal and come out, but was ruled no goal at the time (though Peterson said a linesman later told him it went in.)
Regardless, the one official goal appeared that it would hold up all the way to the end as Sparks proved unflappable in the net.
Valor Christian used its time out and pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker in the closing minute, but junior Parker Brinner got control of the puck and fired a shot that found the net to make it a 2-0 game. The Regis Jesuit bench erupted in celebration, but Ott knew there was still time left.
“I kept shouting at them ‘the game’s not over yet,’ but I don’t know if they heard me,” he said.
Sure enough, the Eagles got a goal from Brock Benson with 19 seconds left to make it 2-1 and create some drama, but the Raiders got the puck out their zone and Beck ushered it the length of the ice before slamming it home with one second left.
“That was crazy, scored that second goal and we thought it was over, but they came back,” Brinner said. “There were just battles all over the place in that game. …We knew we had the game in us and we had Easton back there, so we knew we could bring it home.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CLASS 5A ICE HOCKEY STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
REGIS JESUIT 3, VALOR CHRISTIAN 1
Score by periods:
Valor Christian 0 0 1 — 1
Regis Jesuit 0 1 2 — 3
SCORING
Second period: Regis Jesuit — Reece Peterson (Ian Beck), 15:46
Third period: Regis Jesuit — Parker Brinner (empty net), 0:57; Valor Christian — Brock Benson (Andrew Jenkins, Maddux Charles); Regis Jesuit — Beck (empty net), 0:01
Valor Christian saves: Trudeaux Coffey (30 shots on goal-27 saves). Regis Jesuit saves: Easton Sparks (24 shots-23 saves)