The Glenwood Springs Demons varsity hockey team had a loaded docket over the weekend, taking place nearly 200 miles from each other.

On Friday, the Demons again had to travel around the mountains to face the Crested Butte Titans before immediately turning back to prepare for Saturday’s game against the Battle Mountain Huskies. Glenwood went 1-1 through the tumultuous weekend, suffering their first loss since the heartbreaking state championship final last March. 

The Demons fell 6-4 to the Titans on Friday but stood strong on Saturday, slaying the Huskies 7-2 in a chippy Interstate 70 rivalry win at home. 

The Demons exploded for a four-goal second period on Saturday, discouraging the Huskies and resulting in a physical third period. 

Glenwood took an early lead in game one but fell into a hole they couldn’t dig out of. Although the Demons played a good game on Friday, the Titans played well down the stretch, and the Demons had penalty issues, going down a man six times throughout the game. 

The Demons took an early lead on Friday and entered the first intermission with a 1-0 lead, but the Titans are known for their slow starts. Crested Butte is averaging just .7 goals in the first period. Contrarily, the Titans average nearly four goals in the second and third periods, and the script played out on the big screen. 

Crested Butte put up three goals to Glenwoods two in the second period as they entered the final intermission knotted at three. The Titans came out with the same tenacity, putting another three goals on the board and holding the Demons to just one in the third. Senior co-captains Jake Barlow and Ian Cole both scored and tallied an assist, while junior forward Jacob Roggie scored twice in the loss. 

“We played pretty well (on Friday),” head coach Tim Cota said. “We got in a situation down there in their home barn. Crested Butte is a tough team to play against. We made some mistakes, and they capitalized. I feel pretty good about how we played except for the score.”

The Demons hustled home, exhausted but hungry to get back on track. They prepared for their next game, knowing games mean more when Glenwood is defending their home rink. 

“The energy is just different at home,” junior Beck Weatherred said on Saturday. 

When Glenwood takes their home ice, they play with a different type of confidence. They haven’t lost in their home barn in over a year, the last loss coming at the hands of their old friend, Cheyanne Mountain, last January. 

Cole praised fans over their play at home. 

“There is so much support,” he said. “When we go on the road, we face some backlash and hear some overrated chants, but when we’re here, the support helps a lot.”

The rivalry game gave the Demons unneeded motivation, and they got to work immediately, taking the lead just under two minutes into the game. 

The Demons’ second line was unstoppable over the weekend. The young line consisting of two juniors was responsible for eight of the 10 goals Glenwood scored over the weekend. Senior Jett Weatherred takes faceoffs with his younger brother Beck and Roggie accompanying him on the wings. Roggie and Beck both have 10 goals to their name, leading the team. At the same time, Jett leads the team in points (18) and assists (14). Roggie was on fire, scoring five goals in the two games over the weekend. He and Beck both sent the hats flying during Saturday’s victory. 

The second line lit the lamp early and often on Saturday, the first coming on their first shift of the game. Jett did the dirty work on the boards, jamming the attempted breakout as he waited for his younger brother’s support. Beck nabbed the puck and slid it to Roggie, who snuck it short-side under the goalie’s pad. 

“We always know where everyone is at,” Jett said. “We just have that type of connection. We have been clicking more and more every game.”

Battle Mountain tied the game with 3.5 minutes left in the first. The Demons broke the puck out but couldn’t hold onto it in the neutral zone, leading to an odd-man rush. Senior goalie Marek Senn made the initial three saves, but the puck stayed loose, and the Huskies managed to push it past Senn. 

The Huskies kept the game tied for all of 12 seconds before Glenwood reclaimed the lead. Jett, Beck, and Roggie broke into the zone in a three on two, the puck on Jett’s stick. The Huskies’ defense read the situation very poorly, leaving Beck and the net wide open as the Demons took back the lead entering the break. 

Jett is soaking up every moment in his last season on the ice for the Demons and with his brother.

“It’s so much fun,” he said. “Sharing the ice with my brother through the past three years has been such a blast. It’s hard to put it into words.”

The Huskies couldn’t make it to the break without taking one of nine penalties they committed on Saturday. They entered the second, a man down for 1:39, more than enough time for the Demons’ lethal power-play. An early second period referee mishap’s unintended consequence was a gorgeous Demons goal. 

The Demons played out a drill they have done a million times. Cole won the defensive zone face-off back to junior defenseman Sam Rosenberg, who slung it along the boards out of the zone. Barlow burst down the ice to grab the free puck, giving a perfect touch pass to junior Brayden Dacuma. Dacuma, with a head full of steam, entered the zone, and a quick cut left both Huskies defenders tumbling over each other. Now, with a wide-open lane to the net, Dacuma made the goalie look just as silly as the defenders. His quick hands left the goalie guessing as he led him toward the far side of the net. Dacuma waited until the last possible second before shelving it from the backhand. 

The power-play goal gave the Demons a burst of confidence, leading to three more goals, all from the second line. The three Demons forwards gave the Huskies so much trouble they changed their goalie halfway through the second period. The Demons entered the second intermission with a comfortable 6-1 lead, though it started getting chippy as the lead continued to grow. The lead and physicality of the game reciprocated each other, culminating in a mini scrum with less than a minute left in the game. 

The score stayed stagnant throughout the third period as the physical aspect of the game took the driver’s seat for the Huskies. Battle Mountain took four penalties in the third period alone. The Huskies scored with three minutes left in the third on a soft backhand shot that didn’t look like it would get through the bodies. It snuck over Senn’s glove, but Roggie restored the lead to five with less than a minute left on the clock.

Glenwood’s record moves to 9-1-1 after the weekend as the regular season enters its final stretch before the playoffs. The Demons play three games in the last week of January, with more travel in their future. On Tuesday, the Demons will travel to Colorado Springs to face the 0-12 Air Academy Kadets. On Friday, they will snowshoe up to Steamboat to play the Sailors, who are currently tied for first place in the 4A Mountain division. Then, finally, on Saturday, the Demons will host the Kent Denver Sun Devils to wrap up their week.