AURORA | Prep ice hockey’s two state championship games are slated to go back to the Ball Arena next month, the Colorado High School Activities Association announced Tuesday.
The semifinals and championship game of last season’s state playoffs — which were made up of just four teams due to the coronavirus pandemic — were held at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, but will return to the home arena of the Colorado Avalanche.
Ball Arena will be used for the Class 4A and 5A state championship games, which will be played back-to-back March 8, with puck drop for the 4A game 5:30 p.m., followed by the 5A contest at 8 p.m.
“Because of the growing popularity of ice hockey here in Colorado, the time was right to move the 5A quarterfinals to a venue that could better accommodate the games,” CHSAA assistant commissioner Justin Saylor, who oversees ice hockey, said in a statement issued by the organization.
“Thanks to our collaboration with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, we were able to return to Ball Arena,” he added. “We’d like to thank them for hosting our championship hockey teams and once again providing the players with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in an NHL arena.”
This season’s playoffs will utilize multiple venues, with the quarterfinals and semifinals scheduled to be played at Magness Arena on the University of Denver campus. Quarterfinals are scheduled for Feb. 28 and March 1, while semifinals in both classifications will be played March 3 starting at noon.
Among local teams, Regis Jesuit played in the Frozen Four at Ball Arena (then named the Pepsi Center) back in early March of 2020, when the Raiders suffered a 2-1 loss to Valor Christian in the semifinals.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
