Arapahoe Warriors player, Lisunov, earns 109 points in season

Turns in 23 hat tricks

BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

ere is a new hat-trick king in town and it’s not any players from the Colorado Avalanche. Instead, it’s Dennis Lisunov from the Arapahoe Warriors 10-and-under hockey program.

As the six-month-long season came to a close in early March with the Colorado Cup Championships Tournament, Lisunov nished with 109 points and 98 goals in the 40-game season.

It is nothing for Lisunov to turn in multiple hat track performances. By the end of the 2023 season, the 10-yearold had 23.

Lisunov said about three years ago his father took him to see a Colorado Avalanche game. Lisunov recalled the Avalanche winning 7-3, noting he became hooked on the game.

“Before that, I was only on roller skates, but I knew I wanted to get into hockey,” Lisunov said. “On the ice you just go faster and smoother.” e 2022-23 season is Lisunov’s rst year playing competitive hockey, joining the Arapahoe Warriors Yellow team.

In the start of the season,

Arvada, seeded second in the tournament, kept pace with the high-scoring Warriors through the second period when the game remained tied 1-1.

“I think both teams were pretty evenly matched,” Lusinov said. “I wanted to get to 100 goals in this game but it was good.” e Warriors broke things open late in the second when Austin Castelli players are paired with those with similar talent and skill levels.

For spectators, teammates and coaches, it was clear early in the season that Lisunov had natural talent and a drive to succeed.

Besides practicing with the Arapahoe Warriors team, which consists of players from Douglas, Arapahoe and Je erson counties, Lisunov started doing early-morning private lessons multiple days a week.

His progress, along with the Warriors coming together as a team on defense, paid o quickly. Lisunov led his team to the Colorado Cup Championship on March 5 where they defeated Arvada 5-1 in the nal round.

While teammates say Lisunov is a vocal leader on the ice, pushing everyone to perform better and telling them when he’s being covered a lot to shoot more and keep going, he’s quiet o the ice.

“I just want us all to play together well,” Lisunov said. “Whenever another team scores, I always tell our team we can keep going and to always play hard. Even in the early season when we did not do as well, I just told (teammates) to keep their heads up and we can do it.”

When asked about early season goals and how the sneaked a quick pass past the goalie to give the team a 2-1 lead. e team’s second top scorer, Lewis Chan, said he was excited to nish strong. Chan nished the season with 34 goals, 15 assists and 49 points overall.

After that, it was all Warriors as the team went on to win 5-1.

“It is an amazing way to nish,” Chan said. “We played a great game and our defense was amazing.”

As the season progressed, Chan worked on defense as much as o ense, earning a season turned out, Lisunov had a simple answer, “I just wanted to learn and keep scoring as much as I could.”

As Lisunov started turning in more big games and accumulating hat tricks, he said he understood that other teams were looking at him. Most games had swarms of defenders getting on him. However, private lessons were proving to be successful, as the young player learned to circle behind the Warriors’ net and weave up the ice to rack up more unassisted goals.

Lisunov said one of the scariest moments in the season came in February during the Mile High Meltdown tournament. In the championship round, the Warriors faced Hyland Hills Black. Early in the game, with a tie score, Lisunov was leveled on a blindside check that sent him ying backwards. With a neck injury, Lisunov was taken to the locker room to be checked by trainers, and later the doctor. While the player guilty of the hit was not ejected, he was given a 10-minute major penalty.

Lisunov said he wanted to return for his team, knowing his importance to the team. However, after an attempt to play in the game, he knew his injury was too much. e following week he defensive player of the game award at one point.

Lusinov and Chan were quick to not only credit the hard work and improvement of the team’s defense, but also to point to the excellent play of goalie Emma Preston.

Early in the season, 9-year-old Preston said her goal was the lead a championship team. She got her wish in the rst season, as the Warriors got the rstplace title in the fourth championship game of the season.

Preston nished the worked to recover to get back into the competition during the nal Colorado Cup tournament. He said he felt more comfortable and adjusted in the rst round when the Warriors breezed to the second round in a 7-0 victory, which was another hat trick for Lisunov. season with an 80% save percentage. Joining Preston on a strong defensive performance was Ryan Billman, Connor McDonald and Connor Morrison.

Lisunov credited season success to his dad for always taking him to practices and lessons and pushing him to work hard.

“ is win feels very good,” Preston said. “As a team we really worked hard for this. After losing three (title) games in a row, this one feels good. We got over early struggles and fought hard to win this game.”

Coach Chris Catelli told his team after the victory that it felt like a weight was lifted, given the team’s struggles in title games. In- stead of placing second after three tournaments, he said, the team played hard to win the Colorado Cup title. e Arapahoe 14U Navy team defeated Littleton for the title. e Arapahoe 10UB Maize team won the 2023 CAHA State Championship. e Arapahoe 12U Aa team won the CCYHL Championship, defeating Hyland Hills.

While Lisunov was born in the U.S., his parents moved to America nearly 15 years ago from Romania. Lisunov said his mom, with her strong accent, can be heard in the stands yelling and cheering him on. He said his mom has been one of his biggest supporters throughout the season.

Looking to the future, Lisunov said he loves hockey and wants to eventually become a pro player.

Besides the Warriors 10U team, Arapahoe’s youth hockey league also had several other champions over the weekend.