CENTENNIAL | Regis Jesuit and Valor Christian battled in a state championship game rematch to end the regular season Friday and the Raiders again came out on top.
Regis Jesuit dug out of an early two-goal hole with three power play goals in the final two periods — including the eventual game-winner by senior Justin Lico in the third period — on its way to a thrilling 3-2 victory at Family Sports Center.
Seniors Kale Lone and Nicholas Schultz also had goals on the man advantage for coach Dan Woodley’s Raiders, who swept the two-game season series from the Eagles and won their fifth straight game to end the regular season 18-1.
Senior goaltender Marco Sandoval made 17 saves on 19 shots against for Regis Jesuit, which fell behind 2-0 after Valor Christian scored twice in a 1 minute, 21 second, span in the opening period.
Lico had assists on the goal by Lone that got the Raiders onto the scoreboard in the second period and also had one of the helps on Schultz’s tying score just under three minutes into the final period.
Towards the end of the same five-minute major penalty that helped produce Schultz’s goal, Lico took a feed from Lone and scored to put Regis Jesuit in front for good.
The Raiders have a firm hold on the No. 1 spot in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s RPI standings that are used to see the playoffs and will find out their path to a potential state championship repeat when the bracket comes out Sunday.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Sentinel Prep Sports
REGIS JESUIT 3, VALOR CHRISTIAN 2
Score by periods:
Valor Christian 2 0 0 — 2
Regis Jesuit 0 1 2 — 3
SCORING
First period: Valor Christian — Colby Browne (power play), 6:01; Valor Christian — Colton Carlson (Browne, Mason Hoehn), 7:22
Second period: Regis Jesuit — Kale Lone (power play) (Drew Renner, Justin Lico), 14:39
Third period: Regis Jesuit — Nicholas Schultz (power play) (Nolan Sargent, Justin Lico), 2:59; Regis Jesuit — Lico (power play) (Lone), 6:41
Goaltenders-saves: Valor Christian — Trey Hirschfield (37 shots on goal-34 saves); Regis Jesuit — Marco Sandoval (19 shots on goal-17 saves)