Ralston Valley hockey wins triple-overtime thriller to advance to 5A title game

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

e usual suspects — Valor Christian, Denver East, Ralston Valley and Regis Jesuit — battled on the ice at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs on March 4 in the Class 5A hockey state semi nals.

e top 4 seeds in the state tournament have combined to win nine hockey championship titles over the past 11 years. Top-seeded Valor and Ralston Valley were victorious to set up the state championship game scheduled for Tuesday, March 7 — after press deadline — at Magness Arena at the University of Denver.

(3) Ralston Valley 3, (2) Denver East 2 (3OT)

COLORADO SPRINGS — A tripleovertime goal by Ralston Valley senior Blane Keller is sending the Mustangs back to the state hockey championship game in almost a decade.

Keller scored the game winninggoal with 2:49 left in the third 8-minute overtime period to give Ralston Valley a 3-2 victory over the defending 5A state champions — Denver East.

Senior Chris Homer slid a pass to Keller near the blue line. From a sharp angle, Keller took a slap shot that found the back of the net.

“I don’t want to talk about me right now,” Keller said moments after the game winner. “I’ve been through hell and back with these boys. I couldn’t have been close to this place without them. I love all these boys.”

Both goalies — Ralston Valley’s Kaleb Bartholomew and Denver East’s Samuel Cozart — were outstanding from early in the third period through the three overtime periods before Keller ripped a shot past Cozart.

“I feel real con dent going up against Valor,” Keller said looking ahead to Tuesday’s state title game at Magness Arena. “We had some injuries when we lost to them last.”

Ralston Valley (14-4-2 record) actually handed Valor its lone loss of the season. e Mustangs defeated the Eagles 4-3 in overtime back on Dec. 3. Valor won the second go-around 4-2 on Jan. 7.

On Saturday night in Colorado Springs, Ralston Valley got on the scoreboard rst with a great individual e ort by Ralston Valley senior Cole Francque. e Mustang forward peeled o the boards and toward Denver East goalie Samuel Cozart. Francque red a shot that got past Cozart with 8:44 left in the rst period to give Ralston Valley a 1-0 lead. Denver East tied things up with a power-play goal with 12:47 left in the second period. Senior Nicholas Chadd put in a rebound behind Bartholomew to even things up 1-1.

It looked like the Angels had a great chance to take their rst lead going on a power-play minutes later, but Francque struck again.

A Denver East turnover on its power-play chance was cleared out of the Mustangs’ defensive zone by Ralston Valley senior Tsavo Cole. Francque got to the puck, weaved past an Angel defender and then toe-dragged around another Denver East player before ripping a shot past Cozart for a huge short-handed goal.

“ ey were pretty awesome goals,” Francque said of his two goals. “I stayed a little bit patient on that second goal to let the defense commit and buried them.” e Mustangs took a 2-1 leading heading to the third period. e Angels were coming o their incredible run to the program’s rst state title last season. Denver East nished the 2021-22 campaign with a 20-1-1 record that included a 16-game win streak that was concluded doubling up Valor in the championship game 6-3. e Mustangs won back-to-back state titles in 2013 and 2014, but this is their rst trip back to the title game since the 2014 state win.

However, Ralston Valley took another penalty at the end of the second period. Chadd cashed with his second extra-strength goal 24 seconds into the third period to knot things up 2-2. Chadd poked the puck past Bartholomew with a mass of bodies in front of the net.

Cozart and Bartholomew both came up with numerous saves in the third period with the game tied at 2-2.

Ralston Valley made its second straight trip back to the Frozen Four.

(1) Valor Christian 3, (4) Regis Jesuit 2 COLORADO SPRINGS — e third go-around between Valor and Regis went just as expected.

“It was a typical Regis versus Valor, 1-goal game,” Valor coach George Gwozdecky

3-2