Poudre School District to face Valor Christian for 5A hockey title

COLORADO SPRINGS – Pinch London Salmela so he knows everything is real.

The junior left winger’s high-tip in goal on a pass from Hayden Miller led Poudre to a 4-3, double overtime win against Cherry Creek in a Class 5A semifinal on Saturday at Ed Robson Arena on the campus of Colorado College.

“I thought I was in a dream,” Salmela said. “I scored and I was sitting in the corner thinking this is not real. But it was awesome. To be honest it happened real quick. It was on and off my tape and the rest is history.”

The game looked over in the first overtime but Jackson Siegel’s goal didn’t count as the goal came off its moorings. But, the Stars stayed focused as they headed to the second overtime.

“It was just total exhaustion,” Miller said. “We were battling and just went to the net and we got one. That’s all we needed.”

Cherry Creek scored first when Cooper Huang took a pass in the slot from Ari Gelfand for a stick-side goal and a 1-0 Cherry Creek lead at the 8:48 mark. Logan Samador set the play up with a slick pass to Gelfand.

The Bruins held a 15-5 edge in shots on goal at the end of the first period. The Stars were on their heels. PSD coach Riley Nelson noted how resilient the Stars had been all season, yet they needed to get to intermission.

“We were flat as a pancake coming out,” Nelson said. “It’s not like us to not have any kind of pace to our game. Cody Cadwell kept us alive. We just stunk the first period. It could have been 5-0. Some of the chances they had the back door plays and they even missed a couple. We had to get out of that period and get back to the room because Cherry Creek was putting it on us.”

An aggressive Stars’ forecheck didn’t yield the equalizer, but cut the CCHS advantage in shots on net at the end of the second period to 25-21 as they began to pepper Cherry Creek goalie Payton Mill (29 saves). Cadwell had 35 saves for the Stars.

Davis Ritter gave Cherry Creek a 2-0 lead with a goal 3:12 before the second intermission. Hudson Ipson and Matthew Lopez assisted as Ritter’s shot slowly inched in between two Bruins.

Just when it looked like the Bruins would take control of the game, Daniel Campbell answered with a Stars’ goal. Siegel and Zach Bucholt assisted at the :43 mark of the second period.

“We all did our roles, we played our game and stuck together as a team,” Miller said. “Not one of us got down on each other throughout the game. We kept going and once we got one we knew we could get another and build on it.”

But, the Bruins snuck a goal in just under the horn. Carter Sharkey’s steal was played forward to a streaking Shota Badasyan. He was one-on-one with Cadwell. Badasyan’s blast was saved by the left pad, but ricocheted to Brian Kopeck who found the back of the net .07 seconds before the period ended as Creek took a 3-1 lead.

Early in the third period, the Stars went on the power play when Gelfand was hit with a tripping penalty. Williamson cut the Bruins’ lead to 3-2 on a goal assisted by Adam Aldridge and Campbell with 15:44 left in the game.

At the 9:00 mark of the third period the Stars had a two-man advantage for :59 seconds and a 2:00 power play but only managed to fire off two shots. It looked like a game would be decided in regulation for the first time on Saturday, but Jorgen Bliss gathered a full head of steam and fired off a heavy shot that tied the game 3-3 with 1:50 left in regulation.

That left the door open for Salmela to live out a scenario that most kids only dream of.

Valor finally breaks through the Ringoen wall

Maddux Charles needed just nine seconds of overtime to do what couldn’t be done in 51 minutes. He got the puck by Joshua Ringoen.

The quick strike in overtime gave the Eagles a 1-0 win over Monarch and a trip to the state title game for a sixth straight season.

Both goalies, Lucas Jordan for Valor Christian and Ringoen for Monarch, were unbelievable throughout the course of the game.

Each team had their share of scoring chances throughout regulation. Ronan Hirschfield had two chances for the Eagles in the third period, but one shot went high and Ringoen turned away the other.

Zach Sanner had a breakaway chance in the closing seconds of regulation, but Jordan stopped him cold.

As a result, the fourth game of the day went to a sudden death situation.

And that’s where Maddux came in. Like three other players before him, he netted a game-winner emptying his team’s bench onto the ice in celebration.