After winning four of its last five games and tying the other to finish its regular season 8-7-2, the Durango High School ice hockey team scored the No. 6 seed for the upcoming Class 4A state championship tournament.
As the No. 6 seed, DHS won’t have to play in a first-round game in the state championships. DHS will start the tournament next Tuesday in the quarterfinals against No. 3 Cheyenne Mountain at Colorado College’s Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs. The puck is scheduled to drop at 6 p.m.
Cheyenne Mountain finished 15-3-1 and won the 4A South league with an 8-0 mark to score the No. 3 seed. The two teams haven’t played each other this season.
Glenwood Springs (15-4-0, 8-2-0) received the No. 1 seed, while the 4A Mountain league champion Steamboat Springs (14-4-1, 9-1-0) earned the No. 2 seed. The top five seeds also include No. 4 Colorado Academy and No. 5 Crested Butte, who will face off in a quarterfinal.
The two first-round games include No. 7 Kent Denver (11-8-0) against No. 10 Summit (6-11-2) and No. 8 Battle Mountain (7-10-2) versus No. 9 Liberty (7-11-1).
Pol Cavaller is Durango’s leading scorer heading into the playoffs with nine goals, but 15 different Demons have netted at least one goal this season. Brady Holbrook has scored six, Lucas Betz has scored five while Loudon Doemland and Nick Best have each scored four.
Nick Best leads the team with eight assists, while Mitch Rhodus has assisted seven and Doemland five.
Durango has also switched goalies throughout the year and both have similar stats, with Evan Brock allowing 2.4 goals per game and Luka Remec allowing 2.6.
The Colorado High School Activities Association also released the state basketball brackets for classes 4A, 5A and 6A on Monday.
The Durango boys made some noise in their final weekend and beat playoff-bound Montrose on Friday at DHS, 53-51. The win, however, wasn’t enough to get the DHS boys a spot in the Class 5A state tournament.
DHS finishes its season 7-16 overall and 2-6 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League.
League foe Montrose (15-8) earned the No. 12 seed for the 5A tournament and will host No. 21 Harrison in the first round Wednesday. Grand Junction Central (16-6) scored the No. 14 seed and will host No. 19 Palmer. League champ Fruita Monument (20-2), who beat DHS in the regular-season finale Saturday, received the No. 12 seed for the 6A tournament and will host No. 21 Fairview on Wednesday.
The DHS girls, meanwhile, scored the No. 3 seed after beating Fruita Monument for the 5A/6A Southwestern League title Saturday, 48-41, and will host No. 30 Bear Creek at 6 p.m. tonight (Feb. 21) in the first round. DHS enters the playoffs 20-2 overall while Bear Creek is 13-10. Visit DurangoHerald.com to see how the Durango girls and other local teams fared Tuesday.
Montrose (15-8) received the No. 15 seed for the 5A tournament and is scheduled to play No. 18 Mesa Ridge on Tuesday. Grand Junction Central (12-10) received the No. 20 seed and is scheduled to face No. 13 Centaurus on Tuesday night. Fruita (18-4) was seeded No. 10 in the 6A tournament and is scheduled to play Fossil Ridge in the first round.
George Washington (19-4) received the No. 1 seed in the 5A girls tournament, followed by Roosevelt (21-2) and Windsor (16-7) at No. 4.
The top-four seeds in the 5A boys tournament went to Air Academy (21-2), Mesa Ridge (23-0), Windsor (19-4) and Mead (19-4).
Basketball teams in classes 1A, 2A and 3A, meanwhile will compete in their district tournaments this week.
In the 3A Intermountain League, the No. 4 Ignacio boys are scheduled to play at No. 5 Crested Butte in a play-in game Tuesday. The winner will play No. 1 Centauri. No. 2 Bayfield, meanwhile, will host No 3 Montezuma-Cortez on Friday in the semis.
In the girls’ bracket, No. 5 Bayfield is scheduled to play at No. 4 Montezuma-Cortez on Tuesday. The winner will play No. 1 Centauri in the semis. No. 2 Ignacio will host No. 3 Crested Butte in the other semifinal on Thursday.
