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AHS hockey nets ‘quality’ win vs. Kent

Tim Mutrie

Matt Cooper set up teammate David Goldberg with a beautiful, game-winning goal in the third period and the Aspen High hockey team beat rival Kent Denver 3-2 in Denver Saturday.Aspen (3-1) dominated Coronado 7-1 in Colorado Springs Friday night to open the weekend road trip.Aspen twice trailed against Kent Denver (2-2) – 1-0 in the first period and then 2-1 in the second – but the Skier icemen summoned a near-perfect third period to snatch the win from the team that knocked them out of the state playoffs last season.”That’s probably the best game we’ve played so far,” Aspen coach Bryan Ganz said. “And it’s definitely good to get a good quality win early in the season against a team that typically, year in and year out, is one of the better teams in the state.”Having lost to Battle Mountain [the weekend before] and then rebounding against Kent Denver says a lot about the character of our team.”Kent Denver scored first on a power play in the opening period, but Aspen answered before the period was through with a Tyler Doremus goal, assisted by Nicky Anastas.Tyler Moore scored in the second to answer a second Kent goal and send the game into the final period tied at 2-2. Aspen’s Ryder Fyrwald assisted on the goal.”The third was a really good period of hockey by our guys,” said Ganz. “We played solid in all three zones – offense, defense and neutral zones – and we gave up two or three shots in the period. Then, we had a beautiful goal by David Goldberg – Matt came around from behind the net to the left post and David cut to the right post, and Matt slid it across the crease and David was there to tap it in for a real nice goal.”Aspen goalie JoJo Hernandez played solid in goal to record the win.Aspen outshot Kent Denver 26-18.In the Coronado (3-2) game, Aspen scored two goals in the first period, one in the second and four in the third. “Typically, they’re not the strongest team in the league,” said Ganz.This weekend, Aspen hosts their home-openers at the Lewis Ice Arena.On Friday, Aspen faces off with Colorado Academy (2-3-1) at 6 p.m. And on Saturday, Aspen takes on undefeated Air Academy (5-0). (The start time of Saturday’s game was still being finalized Tuesday).”Air Academy is coming off a big win over Cheyenne Mountain and they’re one of those quality teams in our league. Both games should be pretty good, but Air Academy is definitely going to be a big one for us.”Tim Mutrie’s e-mail address is mutrie@aspentimes.com