SUPERIOR | The beard is gone, but optimism remains for Regis Jesuit ice hockey coach Dan Woodley.
Woodley grew out his beard for as long as the Raiders went unbeaten — a string of 19 games that stretched back to last season — before a 2-1 overtime loss to Ralston Valley on Friday.
Freshly shorn, Woodley watched his team skate to a 3-3 tie with Monarch in a Monday matinee at the Boulder Valley Ice Arena in a strong performance against one of the top teams in the state, which gave him more confidence for the upcoming postseason.
Logan Baca, Kirk Underwood and Conner Wigton each scored goals for Regis Jesuit, but the Raiders couldn’t take advantage of more than seven minutes of power play chances in the third period and settled for their third tie of the season. Goaltender Sam Harden made 20 saves for Regis Jesuit, which moved to 13-1-3.
Jake Christofferson, Jake Orsborn and Walker Harris each scored for Monarch, which now sits at 15-1-2 and is at the top of the Foothills Conference.
From the opening faceoff, the Coyotes came out with significant jump and were the aggressors, but Harden held firm and stuffed an Orsborn breakaway to help the Raiders weather the early storm.
Regis Jesuit came up with the first goal when Baca rifled a rebound into an open net after Monarch goaltender Ian Oden made the initial stop on a shot from the point.
Just 48 seconds later, Underwood scored on a fortunate bounce — with the goal originally credited to Wigton — and the visitors had a 2-0 advantage and all the momentum, until a holding penalty came down against Brady Hall.
The Coyotes’ power play needed just 35 seconds to convert the man advantage, as a spinning Christofferson redirected a shot from the point past Harden to cut the lead in half. Monarch needed just 10 seconds in its next power play to tie it as Orsborn beat Harden high to make it 2-2 with 7:47 remaining in the second period.
Two slashing penalties on the Coyotes’ Noah Zimmerman and David Neitenbach — the second coming with no time left in the period — set Regis Jesuit up for a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:11 to open the final period.
But the Raiders power play unit, which had to work in some younger players due to injury, spent too much time looking for backdoor passes that weren’t open instead of firing shots and looking for rebounds, much to Woodley’s chagrin. Monarch survived both power plays with Regis Jesuit’s only significant chance coming when Wigton put a shot into the side of the net on the doorstep.
The Coyotes also survived the Raiders’ four-minute power play at the end of the regulation courtesy of a tripping call on Zimmerman, who picked up a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct and 10-minute misconduct penalty on top of it due to his reaction. Wigton again had the best chance, but put a shot just wide across the goal and Regis Jesuit also struggled to keep the puck inside the blue line on some key occasions.
It was the Raiders’ turn to kill of a penalty in the final minute of overtime, which they did to preserve the tie.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555
REGIS JESUIT 3, MONARCH 3
Score by periods:
Regis Jesuit 2 1 0 0 — 3
Monarch 1 2 0 0 — 3
SCORING
First period: Regis Jesuit — Logan Baca (Connor Brennan, Nathan Haas), 5:41; Regis Jesuit — Kirk Underwood (Brady Hall, Brian Engh), 6:27; Monarch — Jake Christofferson (Justin White, Jake Orsborn) (power play), 7:30
Second period: Monarch — Orsborn (Christofferson, Alex Barber), 9:13; Regis Jesuit — Conner Wigton (Brett Quartuccio, Nathan Haas) (power play), 12:19; Monarch — Walker Harris (Christofferson, Cameron Gardner), 12:34