The landscape of high school hockey in Colorado hasn’t been the same since Glenwood Springs High School created their program. 

It’s been seven years since Glenwood Springs High School first put a team on the ice and the Colorado High School Activities Association state hockey championship tournament has only seen three years without a Glenwood hockey representative since. 

For the first time in the young program’s history, the Demons were crowned as the 4A Mountain Conference Champions after cruising through another regular season. The Demons locked up the crown after a dominating 9-2 home win over the Aspen Skiers on Tuesday. 

“Our mindset remains steady,” Demons head coach Tim Cota said. “Winning our conference was the first goal of the year and then from there, hopefully finishing with the best record in 4A and in our program history. Each game brings a different goal and challenge, our mindset is reaching each weekly goal together and ultimately improving as a team along the way.”

The numbers show the Demons weren’t just the best team in the small but competitive Mountain Conference, they were easily the best team in all of 4A — and arguably one of the best high school hockey teams in the state. The Demons still have one more game on their regular season schedule, but their 16-1-1 record is too steep for their competitors to catch up to. They finished three wins above the Summit Tigers, the second best team in the 4A mountain division, and ended up as the seventh ranked high school hockey team in all of Colorado.

“It means a great deal to win the conference,” senior captain Wylon Deter said. “We have been trying to win this thing for two years now, and seeing it finally come together is a relief. Coach Cota has been chasing the conference for twenty years and to see him finally get it is something that brings a lot of joy to the team.”

It is the Demons third consecutive 16-win season, and with at least two more games on their schedule, Glenwood could potentially end the ’24-’25 season with the most wins in a season in the program’s young history. 

“We certainly want to enjoy the conference title with the understanding our work is not done yet,” Demons head coach Tim Cota said. “It was a goal at the onset of the season to not let it come to tiebreakers and we accomplished that. We want to use the positive energy to progress but understanding our goals that we set moving forward will only become more challenging. We need to stay focused on what’s ahead and use what we’ve learned as fuel.”

Making it to the state tournament isn’t enough for the Glenwood Demons. This will be their third consecutive playoff appearance, but are still searching for the first state championship banner. The Demons are a young team led by seniors who still remember Glenwood’s last trip to the state championship game. This tournament will mean more to the few Demons that still remember the sting of the triple overtime loss to Cheyenne Mountain in the final game of the ’22-’23 season. 

“The heartbreak of the state championship loss, and the loss in last year’s semi-finals flipped a switch for our seniors,” Deter said. “We have worked harder than anyone so that doesn’t happen again. We know what it takes to win and have been doing everything we can all season to do that. It’s all or nothing this year and we know it. Winning the conference is nice, but we have bigger and better things to work towards. There is no other option but to win out, the job isn’t finished.”

Jacob Stockdill transformed the Demons ’24-’25 roster after he missed all last season due to a torn ACL. Stockdill returned to the locker room without missing a beat and currently sits top five in the state in goals scored. The senior netted three goals during Tuesday’s matchup to help secure the league title.

“To be top five in scoring is something I never thought would have happened,” Stockdill said. “All the work I put in over the summer helped me regain confidence in myself and gave me the sense that I could still compete even though I missed a year.”

The Demons will next travel to Colorado Springs on Saturday to face the Air Academy Kadets in their last regular season game.

Seeding for the 2025 state tournament will take place on Monday, Feb. 17.