DENVER-
Nicky Anastas scored a power-play goal and Kody Hornburg stopped 23 shots Saturday night to lead Aspen to its first state ice hockey championship with a 1-0 victory over top seed and newcomer Ralston Valley.
Anastas’ goal happened in the second period after Ralston Valley’s Chris Rose was whistled for interference with 6:18 remaining.
Matt Butler skated through the Mustangs defense, went behind the goal and made a crisp pass from the left side to Anastas, who wristed the puck from the right side past goalie Matt Hardiek with 4:38 to play in the period.
“That was a beautiful goal,” said Aspen coach Al Butler, Matt Butler’s father. “Matt made some nice moves there to get by them, and then just threw it across to Nicky.
“I didn’t really think that that would be the one that would end up being the game-winning goal, but it was nice to see that it was.”
Before the goal, the Skiers (17-3-2) had been outshot and outhit by Ralston Valley (18-2-2), an Arvada school which concluded its first year of sanctioned ice hockey competition.
The Mustangs had an opportunity to tie the game with 5:40 to play when Mike Greene centered to Rose, who missed an open net wide left.
Ralston Valley pulled Hardiek with 1:23 remaining and added another attacker, but Hornburg made several fantastic saves in the waning seconds.
“Kody, in the playoffs, has been stellar for us,” coach Butler said. “He’s made some key saves pretty much in every game to help us kind of get over that hump until we kind of got on track.”
Ralston Valley outshot Aspen 10-2 in the first period and 23-14 in the game. Both teams had four power-play chances.
“Their goalie played well and made saves when he had to,” said Ralston Valley coach John McKibbon. “They executed at the right time, especially on special teams. The difference was the power-play goal.”
Hardiek had 13 saves for Ralston Valley.
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On the Net
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