Glenwood Springs hockey wins out, chances are they get home-ice advantage for playoffs

Courtesy/Cathy Miller
In the eyes of the Ratings Power Index, Glenwood Springs hockey is currently the best Class 4A team in Colorado.
And after nabbing a dominant 6-0 win over Summit on senior night at home Tuesday, the Demons are right now in contention to have home-ice advantage in the playoffs.
All they have to do is win their last three games of the regular season and, boom, they’re wearing their home jerseys. Just so happens, however, this includes having to play two of the toughest teams in Colorado 4A: Colorado Academy and Crested Butte.
“We control our own destiny,” head coach Tim Cota said on Wednesday. “You lose one game in there and you can slip.”
Glenwood now sits comfortably with 13 wins and three losses in the regular season. They also have seven wins and one loss in 4A Mountain league play. Their only blunders were splitting their season series with Cheyenne Mountain and Steamboat Springs — also 4A’s top contenders — and losing a non-league game against Kent Denver.
In other words, this Friday’s away game against a 12-3, 7-0 Colorado Academy team is huge.
“Colorado Academy will be a good matchup for us,” Cota said. “We’re already working hard today in practice.”
Tuesday’s game against Summit reminded everyone why Glenwood Springs is a force to be reckoned with. Early in the first period, Demons senior Ryder Rondeau, who currently leads the team with 15 goals and 11 assists, put on the jets and put one past Summit goaltender Finn Schroder.
“Ryder opened up the scoring for us really quick,” Cota said. “Ryder’s goal, with that burst of speed in the beginning, put Summit on their heels.”
Glenwood would control puck possession but not get enough good shots on net for the rest of the period. Cota said Summit is well-coached and that they were going to be tough out the gate.
That is until the second period rolled around and junior Jett Weatherred and sophomores Jacob Roggie and Beck Weatherred came alive.
At 11:59 in the second period, Jett Weatherred scored off a feed from brother Beck and Roggie, who were credited with assists. At the 8:13 and 1:21 marks later in the period, Roggie netted two goals — one off a feed from Jett Weatherred.
“Overall, it’s another well-balanced game offensively,” Cota said.
To close out the third period, sophomores Ryan Rigney and Brayden Dacuma netted two insurance goals.
The Demons committed just five penalties all game, while Demons senior goalie Jeremiah Swenson stopped all 17 of Summit’s shots to record the shutout.
The Demons travel to the Front Range to take on Colorado Academy at 5:15 p.m. Friday.
“We want to finish with not one loss because that’s going to be the easier path in the playoffs,” Cota said. “And we’ve got three games on the road.”

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