DENVER – A tip of the hat to Matthew Lopez.
Or maybe a toss of the hat is more appropriate.
The Cherry Creek senior had a championship game performance that will be talked for years. He was a central piece of every Bruins goal in the 5-3 win over Poudre School District to claim the Class 5A hockey state championship.
But three of those goals came directly off his stick.
“Matthew Lopez is amazing because he was playing center, now he’s playing defense,” Cherry Creek coach Jeff Mielnicki said. “His hockey IQ is second to none and he just has grit and love for the game. He’s emotionally connected to his teammates and all he wanted to do was win this as a senior.”
A straight hustle play from Lopez jarred the puck loose from behind the net where PSD goalie Tucker Lourance was trying to protect it. Lopez centered it out to a charging Brady Sullivan to give Cherry Creek a 1-0 lead in the first period.
“I saw the goalie come out of his net and I’m just trying throw everything at him and just try to put the puck in front of the net,” Lopez said. “Hopefully somebody was there and we had Sullivan there and he buried it.”
The second period presented some problems for the Bruins, at least in the early going. Cavyn Nelson finally hit pay dirt for the Stars with 12:37 left in the second period on a power play goal.
Hayden Miller put the Stars up 2-1 just about three minutes later, all while the they had a massive edge on shots. For Cherry Creek, the focus was remain calm and let the game continue to play out.
“We just have to let the game have its ebbs and flows and keep grinding and stick to it,” Mielnicki said. “We went to a different kind of system and the kids got a turnover, got a goal and then the power play helped.”
It was the first Cherry Creek goal of the third period that was scored on a power play. It was also Loepz’s third of the game.
The momentum shift ripped through the crowd at Magness Arena and gave definitive hope that an 11-year championship drought was about to end for the Bruins.
Perhaps the only better feeling for Lopez would have been to see hats littered on the ice, but he knew there was still work to do and winning the game remained a priority.
“The win was more important,” Lopez said. “But I know I got three and I know everyone else knows it, so I love it.”
The championship is the first for Cherry Creek since the 2015 season. They beat Monarch 3-2 in a triple-overtime thriller.
Regulation was all that was needed, but there was no guarantee to get by PSD, a program that has been playing high-level hockey for most of this decade.
“PSD was there last year and they were certainly ramped up,” Mielnicki said. “If we could play three periods and play the right way, we knew something good would happen.”
He felt that good thing happen when his players handed him the state title trophy and he raised it in front of a joyous.
Championship hockey has return to Cherry Creek and hats off to Lopez and the Bruins for their performance at Magness.
(Eric Brown/ebrownfoto.com) More photos
