CENTENNIAL | The Regis Jesuit ice hockey team made it an even decade in the state’s Frozen Four with its quarterfinal win over Dakota Ridge Saturday.
The defending state champion and top-seeded Raiders outlasted eighth-seeded Dakota Ridge 3-2 at Family Sports Center to capture a semifinal berth for the 10th consecutive season under coach Dan Woodley.
Connor Kilkenny, Shane Ott and Michael Baer scored goals for Regis Jesuit, while six different players had assists as the it advanced to a Frozen Four matchup against fifth-seeded Resurrection Christian at 5 p.m. March 3 at Magness Arena on the University of Denver campus.
The other semifinal features the third-seeded Cherry Creek co-op team against second-seeded Monarch.
The Raiders had two vastly different results in two Foothills Conference contests against Dakota Ridge during the regular season, winning 4-3 and 7-0. The playoff meeting was more like the first meeting, a nip and tuck affair in which Regis Jesuit found a way to prevail.
Kilkenny got the coveted first goal — which the Raiders didn’t get in their contest the previous day in a 7-1 win over Lewis-Palmer — on a power play conversion less than seven minutes into the opening period, but the teams went into the dressing room at 1-1 after the first intermission when Jacob Gombos somehow put a puck past Regis Jesuit goaltender Dillon Whalen with just 0.1 of a second left.
Ott, the team’s goal leader during the regular season, broke the tie with an even strength goal on assists from Anders Erickson and Cade Alcock late in the second round and Baer came through with the crucial third goal 11 minutes into the final period.
Gombos made things interesting with his second goal with just over four minutes left, but the Eagles couldn’t get the equalizer.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
(1) REGIS JESUIT 3, (8) DAKOTA RIDGE 2
Score by periods:
Dakota Ridge 1 0 1 — 2
Regis Jesuit 1 1 1 — 3
SCORING
First period: Regis Jesuit — Connor Kilkenny (power play) (Michael Baer, Justin Lico), 6:53; Dakota Ridge — Jacob Gombos (Trey Konsella, Drew Eickelman), 16:59
Second period: Regis Jesuit — Shane Ott (Anders Erickson, Cade Alcock), 13:37
Third period: Regis Jesuit — Baer (Jordan Perez, Rowan Barnes), 11:03; Dakota Ridge — Gombos (power play) (Eickelman, Lane Levine), 13:52
Power plays — Dakota Ridge 1-for-3; Regis Jesuit 1-for-4. Goaltending — Dakota Ridge: Nick Scott (28 shots on goal-25 saves); Regis Jesuit: Dillon Whalen (27 shots on goal-25 saves)