SUPERIOR — Grandmothers know best, too.
“That boy would rather play a game than eat,” Kay Borchers said of her grandson Greg. “He’s been that way since he was a tot.”
Thankfully, Greg Borchers chose to do both. While his eating statistics aren’t measured (he seems to be doing fine), his athletic accomplishments are computed in championship rings.
He has two, both during his sophomore year, as a defender on the Peak to Peak Class 3A soccer team and in goal later that school year for the Pumas’ lone ice hockey title. He is the only Peak to Peak athlete who can make that claim.
Now with what some say is a better Pumas hockey team than the 2006 version, Borchers has title No. 3 in sight after a junior year that left him searching for answers.
“Last year was so frustrating because we came in with such high expectations in both soccer and hockey, and we just fell short,” said Borchers, a 4.0 student who likely will attend the University of Minnesota-Morris this fall.
“This team has the talent to do it, and I’m happily optimistic with what we’ve got going.”
After Borchers recorded his second shutout of the season Monday against Standley Lake, the Pumas improved to 9-3 overall. And they led in the third period in all three defeats.
So how does a kid from Westminster find a love for the game of hockey?
Kay Borchers might have passed it along in the genes, although it skipped a generation. She played hockey at the University of Winnipeg in 1940-41 and was the captain only because, as she says, “I spoke the best English and was able to gripe at the referees.”
His other grandmother, Jacquelyn Holland, who used to take his mother, Hilary, to DU hockey games, started taking him soon after he was born.
“Thank God he was born. I don’t know if I could have handled another one,” Hilary Holland said.
The youngest Borchers’ signature moment came in the 2006 title game against mighty and unbeaten Cheyenne Mountain at the Colorado Springs World Arena.
Trailing 2-1 going into the third, the Indians threw everything they had at the sophomore, who made 17 of his 29 saves to preserve the unlikely victory.
“I remember we were all over him, and he single-handedly shut us down,” Cheyenne coach Mike Provenzano said. “We were storming and storming and just couldn’t get anything past him.
“At one point, I remember, we had an open net and he came back to make a save that was just unbelievable.”
But as quickly as Borchers ascended the championship mountain, he had to come down. Early exits in each of the past two soccer playoffs and a 10-10 record on the ice last season that culminated in a first-round playoff loss to Aspen have been tough to swallow.
“You go from experiencing the highest of highs, and then you have that expectation that every year you are going to be in the state title game,” said Borchers, who wants to major in sports management in college.
“The bliss you get from winning a state title is so invigorating, that when you don’t have it, it is just so demoralizing.”
But that championship experience provides an extra ingredient most teams simply don’t have, and those around him think it will benefit the Pumas during their playoff push.
“Greg is just a gamer, and when the stakes are high, he’s at his best,” Peak to Peak athletic director and soccer coach Peter Chandler said. “If everything is depending on one game, he’s going to be at his best.”
The superstitious Borchers, who must wear his lucky green hat, skates a figure-8 after every goal his team scores for him.
“But we could be here ’til next week, if I had to tell you all of them,” he said.
If Borchers and his Peak to Peak teammates keep it rolling and advance back to the World Arena on Feb. 29 and March 1 for the semifinals and finals, Kay Borchers will be there to see her grandson play for the first time in years and probably will pass on sage advice.
Remember, grandmothers do know best.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
By The Numbers
1
Peak to Peak student-athlete who has been a part of each of the 8-year-old school’s two team titles.
2
Career shutouts by goalie Greg Borchers, both this season, against high-flying Lewis-Palmer and Monday against Standley Lake.
3
Sophomore goalies interning behind Borchers on the Pumas’ roster.
