Parity? What parity?
With all the talk of how even the field was this season, note that this year’s final four is exactly the same as last year’s.
Two-time defending champion Regis Jesuit leads Ralston Valley, Lewis-Palmer and Cheyenne Mountain to a new venue, the 1st Bank Center (formerly the Broomfield Event Center), for Friday’s state semifinals.
“Well, at least we know none of us will be star-struck,” Regis Jesuit coach Dan Woodley said.
Perhaps the best story going into the semifinals is Cheyenne Mountain. The 10th-seeded Indians (12-7-2) were all but left for dead a month ago after a loss to Valor Christian, but coach Mike Provenzano’s team has “bought into what we were trying to do.”
Cheyenne Mountain will get a third crack at Peak Conference foe Lewis- Palmer in the Friday nightcap at 8:30 p.m. A tie in a December nonleague game was followed up by a 7-1 Lewis-Palmer win in January.
“We made a lot of mistakes that game,” said Provenzano, who owns four state titles — his last, and only title with Cheyenne Mountain, coming in 2004.
“We weren’t playing anywhere near as well as we are playing now. We are just playing smarter hockey,” he said.
Cheyenne Mountain doesn’t have what Provenzano calls “a lot of skilled players” but rather a good group that works together. Kevin Davis, Jack Benecke, Joey Johnson, Cole DeBoer and Trevor Isbell provide much of the offensive output.
Provenzano said the Indians’ defensive effort against the state’s most prolific scorer — Valor Christian’s Mi- chael Schoolcraft — was “big for us.”
Indians goalie Zach Neal will have his hands full against a team that got 37 shots on goal the first time around and 35 in the 7-1 victory.
No. 6 Lewis-Palmer (15-3-3) was convincing in a 3-0 victory over Air Academy in the quarterfinals and heads into the semis “playing with a lot of confidence,” said coach Steve Fillo.
The Rangers have won nine consecutive games and are led in scoring by Kyle Lee and Kyle Lachner. Brent Schwarz has given up just one goal in the Rangers’ two playoff games.
The first game of the night — at 6 p.m. — will match The Denver Post’s preseason No. 1 Regis Jesuit against No. 2 Ralston Valley.
The two met in a Foothills Conference game on Feb. 8, with Regis, despite getting just nine shots on goal, posting a 3-2 victory. Marshall Conrad’s goal with 35 seconds left was the difference.
“These are some fierce rivalries,” Woodley said. “The measure of respect we have for them is huge.”
The Raiders (18-3-0), whose 46-game unbeaten streak was snapped in December by Lewis-Palmer, come in waves offensively, but their true strength is on defense, where Tanner Ottenbreit and Tanner Scales anchor a group that surrendered only 26 goals during the regular season.
“It’s been an interesting year for this team, and they suffered a little bit under the weight of the streak,” Woodley said.
“There was a little bit of relief when we lost to L-P, and we didn’t have to worry about it anymore. We realized that it was OK to lose, and we dropped a few more we probably shouldn’t have, but we’ve righted the ship.”
Ralston Valley (17-3-1), seeded No. 4, will try to stop a two-year semifinal losing streak for coach Jon McKibbon.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
