The Durango varsity high school hockey team jumped out to an early lead Saturday morning against the New Mexico Cougars and cruised to a 7-2 victory in the first game of their doubleheader.
“I thought we came out excited, came out really flying and knocked the wind out of their sails early,” said Durango head coach Brian Ensign.
The Demons then won Game 2, which was the team’s senior and parent recognition night, by a 9-2 margin.
In the first game, Durango began putting pressure on the Cougars right away and had six shots on goal in the opening few minutes. In the fifth minute, Lukas Petranek found Henry Howe open in front of the net and Howe buried a shot to put Durango up, 1-0. Howe would finish the game with three goals and an assist.
Less than two minutes after Howe first scored, Durango added to its lead. Madeline Glotfelty assisted Zealand Eaton, who bounced a wrist shot off the upper left corner post and in.
After killing a power play, Howe scored an unassisted goal, beating New Mexico’s goalie one-on-one with a backhand.
Zak Wentworth also had a one-on-one chance, and Eli Holden worked hard to create a couple other scoring chances, but New Mexico’s goalie made some good saves and Durango went into the second leading 3-0.
New Mexico then got a one-on-one with Durango’s goalie Evan Brock, but Brock smothered the opportunity to keep the Cougars off the board. Brock also saved a hard wrist shot fired from a Cougar with a clear view of the net in the period.
Senior William Downey scored next for the Demons, coming from behind the goal and putting a shot on goal from an angle that somehow found the back of the net.
Petranek assisted Howe again to start the third and give Durango a 5-0 lead.
The Cougars got on the scoreboard with a goal with 12:04 remaining.
Cristoff Hollowell answered for Durango, scoring with a backhand shot that slid through the goalie’s legs. Downey and Holden assisted the goal.
The Demons kept shooting, and New Mexico’s goalie made some good saves. Howe, however, kept calm and found Wentworth open in front of the goal for Durango’s final goal of the game.
The Cougars also scored once more, capitalizing on a turnover deep in Durango territory.
“We’re a team that has a lot of puck possession, but we were a little sloppy in that first game,” coach Ensign said. “Hopefully, we can clean that up so we’re crisper. We can’t play to the level of our competition, we have to play at our level.”
The coach said the team “played well” in their 9-2 victory that night. Boden Ensign scored twice and assisted three goals in the victory.
The Demons improved to 16-2 with the wins. On Saturday, it will host another doubleheader against one of the team’s that beat them, Los Alamos. The teams split their first two games in Los Alamos, with Durango missing goalie Brock. Durango’s other loss was to Telluride early on, but Durango has also beat Telluride four times this season.
The team also recognized its five seniors Saturday: Boden Ensign, Cole Matava, Petranek, Hollowell and Downey.
“This is a real nice group,” coach Ensign said. “They’ve really taken in every one on the team; there’s a lot of cohesion and it comes from the seniors. This is the easiest group I’ve ever coached; they could coach themselves. They have a lot of leadership, and a lot of talent.”
