Aspen Leafs Junior Hockey

 Our Squirt B team will be playing at the Edge, in Denver on March 20th at 4:30pm.....and with a win, they would be playing in the State Finals on March 21st at the Pepsi Center at 4:10pm!!

GOOD LUCK TO OUR SQUIRT B'S PARTICIPATING IN THIS WEEKENDS STATE PLAYOFFS!!

And our Squirt C team did awesome last weekend in the CDYHL playoffs!!  They have come such a long way this season and should be congratulated for a job well done!!  We are all so proud of them!!

It took two overtimes and a shootout but the Girls U-14 team won the State Championship Sunday at The Edge Ice Arena in Devner against Steamboat Springs.

Aspen went through the weekends round robin tournament a perfect 5 - 0 defeating Steamboat 2 -1 Friday night, Colorado Select 4-2 Saturday morning and Crested Butte 3-1 Saturday afternoon. Even though Aspen had secured the #1 seed, they had to wake up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning and play a meaningless game against Santa Fe at 7:00 AM, prevailing again 3-1.

This set up the rematch with Steamboat Springs where every game this year had been decided by one goal.

It was a thriller from start to finish, each team having opportunities, albeit Aspen having the better chances.  Superb defense and goaltending from both sides throughout the game gave you the feeling this one would go into overtime.....and that it did.

The girls dug deep and you could see both teams battling to try and get that game winner.  To no avail as the buzzer sounded and a second overtime began.

Each team had a crack with both goalies coming up big, Maddie Grant a rock in the net for Aspen.  With 1:40 left in the second OT, Kylie Davis chased down a puck in the Steamboat zone and drew a penalty from Steamboats top player.  With a power play in hand, the crowd sensed a victory as Aspen put out its top line to try and win the game.  Steamboat stood up to the challenge and forced a shootout.  However, since they had a player in the penalty box, that person would become ineligable for the shootout..

Steamboat would go first and sent their best, but Maddie Grant made a beautiful kick save. First up for Aspen was the teams Captain, Kylie Davis. She drove to the net, made a fantatstic deke move and slid a backhand past the outstreched Steamboat keeper.  Aspen 1 Steamboat nil.

Steamboats next skater came down and sniped a wrister, blocker side to tie it up 1 - 1.  Caroline Godfrey was next for Aspen and was unable to get the shot on net.  Steamboat's next skater again was iced by the dyanamic goaltending of Maddie Grant.  Jessica Tyler was next up for Aspen and she too, could not get the shot on net.

Steamboats 4th skater was no match for Maddie Grant either as she smothered a shot perfectly. Next up for Aspen was Arianna Buxman, Assistant Captain and scoring leader for the weekend.  She stuttered a little bit at the start but came in and deeked forehand, then backhand and slid the puck in, leaving the goalie splayed on the ice.  Aspen 2 Steamboat 1.

This was it, if Maddie Grant stopped Steamboats skater, the banner would be theirs. With the crowd going crazy and the girls holding their collective breaths, Steamboats skater came smoothly toward the net.  Maddie positioned herself perfectly and the shot was pushed away for a victory......and a State Championship!!

We look forward to seeing another girls U-14 State Championship banner hanging in our rafters for kids to see for years and years to come. Thanks again to Diana McNab for helping these girls get in the winning frame of mind!

Congrats to the girls for an unbelievable weekend and a fantastic season!

The U-12 team only allowed two goals against all weekend and actually tied the eventual state champion Arvada by a score of 1-1. The second game of the tournament pitted us against a gritty Summit team. The game was hard fought by both teams and we had plenty of opportnities to score. Unfortunately the only puck that found the back of the net that game was one from Summit. Saturday evening, we played our best game of the tournament and blanked the U-12 Girls Select team by a score of 5-0. The girls ended up with a rematch against the selects and tied 0-0. We outshot them 35-1 and there seemed to be some kind of forcefield in front of their net. The girls competed to the end and we are all very proud of them. We have a bunch of young girls on the team so hopefully they gained the experience to do well again next year. Thanks to everyone for their support of the girls over the weekend.

Zach Ware, James Pardee, and Milo Stark were selected by CHSAA coaches to participate in the high school All Star Game. The game will be held on Saturday at 12:00pm at the Air Force Academy. Congratulations guys and good luck. It is a huge honor to have three kids selected to play on this team. They all deserve it and have worked very hard to be recognized.

Former AJH standout Daniel Doremus has made the next step to further his hockey career by making a verbal committment to attend Denver University. Daniel left Aspen this fall to play for the Colorado Thunderbirds Midget AAA program. His work ethic and skills have proven to be successful at the highest level of midget play available. Daniel will play one year of tier 1 Junior hockey in the USHL or the BCHL to continue to prepare him to play at the division 1 college level. Daniel has worked very hard to get where he is today and we applaud his efforts and wish him the best as he continues on with his hockey career. Congratulations Daniel and good luck!