Denver East founded its ice hockey program eight years ago with an ambitious plan to bring home the first state championship for Denver Public Schools.
The Angels started from scratch.
“If you could skate, you got on the team,” said seventh-year head coach John Kopperud.
The team endured hard times on the road to glory. But it all paid off Tuesday night at Ball Arena with a Class 5A state title. East cruised past defending champion Valor Christian, 6-3, in front of a raucous student section assembled from several DPS schools. The Angels’ roster has players from throughout the district.
“We always come out and represent DPS and the public school systems,” said junior forward Joseph Capra, also the starting quarterback at Denver South. “This game was just insane. I came out here and was shocked. I was speechless with how many people came out.”
A stalemate eventually gave way to a flurry of scoring in the title game.
Denver East established a quick 3-0 lead in the second period with consecutive goals from Colby Asheim (backhand at the net), Capra (top-shelf from the high slot) and Nicholas Chadd (tip-in at the net). Valor didn’t back down.
Eagles forward Alec Alfieri scored a power-play goal. However, to close the period, East extended its lead to 4-1 with an unassisted rocket from Connor Hasse on a breakaway.
Valor clawed back in the third when Eagles forward Henry Barnes scored at the 6:50 mark. But once again, the Angels responded quickly, and this time with a Sam Beardshear goal. Benjamin Kluza scored an empty netter to seal the East victory.
Valor added a final goal with just seconds left in regulation from Garrett Covney. It wasn’t enough to close the gap. East goaltender Noel Friedman was excellent stopping 29 of 32 shots on the net while six different Angels contributed goals.
“As a team right now, we’re just feeling perfect,” Kapra said.
The East student section went into chaos as the final buzzer put an exclamation point on a historic DPS achievement. East was the first school from the district to start an ice hockey program eight years ago. Now, the Angels are state champs.
“We’ve got lots of schools and they’re all DPS kids,” Kopperud said. “Itap really cool that the kids have what has turned into a pretty solid program. They’ve been scattered and things have been different. For the last seven years, we’ve been getting more players coming all the time.
“What is more fun than what just happened right here for these guys?”
