A game that saw an early Demons lead and several momentum swings ended in a 6-5 loss for the Glenwood Springs boys hockey team at Denver East Wednesday night.
Several Glenwood players were unable to make the trip due to being sick, but the coaches said they were proud of the way the team stayed in the fight with one of the top Denver metro-area teams even with a short bench.
“We were a bit concerned about bus legs on such a long day trip, but we came out firing on all cylinders in the first period,” head coach Tim Cota said.
Glenwood took the 2-0 lead in the last second of the first period when Dylan Webster and Cole Houston combined to find Colter Strautman for the score. Senior Sean Mooney scored the opening goal 8:13 into the period on a short-handed play.
The Demons (7-3-1 overall and 3-2 in the Peak League) were able to key on the Denver East players they needed to neutralize in the first period. But the Angels caught fire in a second-period scoring frenzy that put Glenwood behind 4-3 headed into the final period.
“We lost a bit of our defensive focus in the second period and good teams take advantage of those mistakes,” assistant coach Bryan Gonzales said of the swing toward the home team.
Glenwood got another goal from senior Ryan Kotz 7:50 into the period to keep it close and scored two more goals in the third to give Glenwood the 5-4 lead again.
But the Angels got the last two words when DE’s Connor Hasse and Joseph Capra scored back-to-back in the final 2 minutes, the final one on a Demons’ turnover in the zone with 36 seconds remaining to cap the win.
“We were able to battle back in the third. I was so proud of the fight we showed,” Kotz said.
“We adapted well, and we’re in the mix; we just need to keep our focus and keep moving forward,” Strautman added after the heartbreaker.
Added Cota, “When the competition is this close, some of those games work in your favor and some don’t, as we’ve definitely seen this year. The effort was there … we worked our tail off all night.”
Glenwood Springs returns to the home ice Friday night for a critical Peak League contest with Crested Butte. Game time is 7:45 p.m. at the Glenwood Community Center ice rink.
