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Summit Tigers spoil Glenwood Demons’ senior night with dominant second period

Glenwood senior captain Wylon Deter is honored before Friday night's game.
Jaymin Kanzer/Post Independent

The Summit High School Tigers varsity hockey team did what few programs have managed over the past three seasons — shut down Glenwood Springs on its home ice.

Summit scored four goals in the first five minutes of the second period, breaking open a tight game and silencing an energized Glenwood crowd. The Tigers cruised to a 7-2 victory Friday night at Glenwood Ice Rink, putting a damper on the Demons’ senior night festivities.

A fast-paced first period ended in a 2-2 tie, but the second-period collapse proved costly for Glenwood. When the Demons left the ice for the second intermission, they found themselves down by four.



“The second period was kind of a perfect storm where we gave up a couple goals that we shouldn’t have,” Glenwood head coach Tim Cota said. “It’s no blood, they’re a good team. They know how to go after you when they get you down, and that was a really rough second period. We played fine in the third, but we just couldn’t climb back out of that hole.”

Summit entered the game ranked No. 5 in Class 4A and faced a tall task taking on top-ranked Glenwood in a hostile senior night atmosphere. The Tigers, however, never let the emotions of the moment dictate their play.



They set the tone early, capitalizing on a power play less than two minutes in to grab a 1-0 lead. Glenwood responded quickly as senior captain Jacob Roggie crashed the net and buried a loose rebound to tie the game. Four minutes later, Roggie struck again in similar fashion, putting the Demons ahead 2-1.

Summit didn’t back down, knotting the game at 2-2 with four minutes left in the period on a redirected shot from the point. With both teams trading goals, fans braced for a close battle. No one expected what came next.

The Tigers won the opening faceoff of the second period and dumped the puck deep into Glenwood’s zone. A bad bounce off the boards caught freshman backup goalie David Santini off guard, slipping past him for an early go-ahead goal.

“We didn’t play well in front of him,” Cota said. “He’s a freshman goalie getting his first start on senior night. That’s a big game for him. He did well for his first night, we just didn’t play well in front of him.”

The sudden shift sucked the energy out of the rink. Summit capitalized, scoring again 30 seconds later and twice more in the next five minutes. In the blink of an eye, Glenwood found itself in a 6-2 hole with nearly 30 minutes of hockey still to play.

By the final buzzer, Summit’s lead had ballooned to 7-2. While the loss stung, Glenwood had little time to dwell on it. 

“That was a tough trip for us,” Cota said. “We went through a lot of adversity this weekend with illnesses, injuries, and senior night.”

The Demons followed up Friday’s senior night loss with a 1-0 overtime win over the Crested Butte Titans. They will next face off against the Caprock Academy on Thursday.


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