Monarch Champions Again!

The Monarch boys varsity hockey team exploded for a 6-0 win over Fossil Ridge on Sunday to win the High Plains Hockey League Tier I championship.  It is the third championship in four years for Monarch who also won in 2004, 2005 and finished second in 2006.

Monarch and Fossil Ridge faced off in the regular season finale on May 6 with Monarch getting the 5-4 win.  It was a game in which both teams were missing some of their top players who were attending the USA District camp.  With both teams having a mostly full roster on Sunday everyone expected it would be close to the end.

The game was very fast and physical from the opening faceoff.  Monarch came with inches of scoring on their very first shift and the teams went back and forth for over 5-minutes.  Fossil Ridge got the first power play opportunity at 9:05 of period one.  Monarch has been very strong in the PK department all year with aggressive fore-checking to go with solid defensive play and goaltending.  Sunday was no different and with the penalty ticking down under 30-seconds it was Jacob Sloat who put the pressure on behind the Fossil net. Beating everyone to the puck and gaining control he found a wide open Timo Provosty in front of the net.  Timo made a quick fake to the left and crossed over to his forehand side for an easy put away and the 1-0 Monarch lead.

The teams traded scoring and power play opportunities in a fast paced game over the next 7 minutes.  With 1:34 remaining Fossil Ridge went to the box for tripping and Monarch would capitalize.  This time it was aggressive play down low from the Coyotes top line of Robert Dominski, Kelly Stanton and Danny Zawacki.  Stanton got a hard shot on net that Fossil netminder DeTomasi could not hold and Zawacki’s rebound shot hopped over the pads and into the goal for the 2-0 lead.

Period 1 ended at 2-0 with Monarch having the 11-7 lead on shots and Fossil in the box again at the 0:42 second mark. Matt “Kumar” Bloss was tough all weekend long and set the tone in period 1 that he was going to be tough to beat.

With Fossil in the box it was Monarch’s top PP line again wasting no time.  12 seconds in at 14:48, Stanton found himself unchecked in the right corner.  As Kelly walked it out he drew the defender away from Zawacki and a perfect pass and one timer from Danny made it 3-0 lead.

Fossil Ridge kept coming and drew two more Monarch penalties at 13:34 and 10:58, but once again the Monarch PK was up to the task and continually frustrated Fossil and did not let them get set up.  At 9:33 Fossil was called for Interference and after a brief 4-on-4 Monarch would get the man advantage at 8:58. 27-seconds later Jake Sloat buried one after taking passes from Zawacki and Stanton.  This power play unit was on a role and you could start to sense some let up and frustration on the Fossil Ridge side.

With Fossil on the power play at 7:20 and trying desperately to get back in the game it was Derek Scanlon who would put the nail in the coffin. Derek came in on right wing and using the defender as a shield he turned and positioned himself for a forehand wrist shot from the right side faceoff dot.  The wrist shot came in high and got in just under the crossbar for Monarch’s second shorthand goal of the game and a commanding 5-0 lead.

The same power play unit would get one more goal with 3:47 to go in the period and this time it was Bobby Dominski taking a Danny Zawacki pass for the 6-0 lead.  The 2^nd period ended with Monarch holding a 24-11 lead on shots with Kumar turning away every Fossil challenger.

The third period was mostly a formality, but would include two more moments in which Monarch was able to add some insult to injury.  Monarch was whistled for tripping on a Tim Brey breakaway that resulted in a penalty shot, but Kumar denied them again when Brey’s shot went wide left and this only seemed to lift Monarch even more.  Then at 8:57 Monarch was given two penalties and Fossil Ridge would go on the 2-man advantage.  But, Monarch killed this penalty off and from there it was all but over.

In the end, Monarch outshot Fossil Ridge by 31-18. Monarch was an impressive 4-7 on their power play and had two short-handed goals as Fossil Ridge went 0-8 on their PP opportunities.  The game ended 6-0 and Monarch is once again the champions of the HPHL.

Monarch advanced to the championship after beating Arvada West by a score of 7-2 on Saturday.  On Saturday it was a different line getting the job done with the line of Derek Scanlon (2g), Chris Coyle (1g) and Daniel Sheehan (1g, 1a) accounting for 4 of the 7 goals to include the first three of the game.

Sheehan got it started with a tip from a Jake Sloat shot that gave Monarch a 1-0 lead that would last through one period and Monarch having a 13-7 advantage in shots.  Early in the second, Coyle took a Sheehan pass at 13:31 of the second and found the far corner.  Brent Ritter started the play from the d-zone.  After Arvada West made it 2-1 on a power play goal at 11:06 it was Scanlon getting the eventual game winner at 5:33 on a breakaway started by a perfect pass from Gabe Keeler.  Jake Sloat added 2 goals and 1 assist followed by Max Meints with 1goal and 1 assist.  Stanton, Zawacki, Dominski and Tate Kendall added assists for Monarch enroute to the 7-2 win.  Arvada West managed 34 shots on net to 37 for Monarch, but Matt Bloss was very sharp in making 32 saves.

On Friday, Monarch was within 1:05 of not getting out of the Quarterfinals.  Monarch didn’t seem to be playing with the same speed and aggressive play that got them to a 13-1 regular season record having lost their first game of the season before running off 13 straight wins.

Two of those 13 wins were against Legacy/Northglenn by 9-3 and 7-1, so perhaps they were taking the cross-town rivals a little too lightly.  Legacy/Northglenn slowly built a 2-0 lead and while Monarch got some good scoring chances they could not get anything past Michael Barber…at-least not for 43:55.

That’s when another chapter of Monarch folklore was written.  At 1:05 Bobby Dominski got things started when he found himself wide open for a breakaway and finding the top left side of the net to make it 2-1.

After winning the ensuing faceoff, Monarch gained control and dumped the puck into the offensive zone.  With Matt Bloss headed to the bench in favor of the extra attacker at 0:49 Legacy/Northglenn was whistled for interference against one of the Monarch attackers trying to get into the zone.  Monarch would pull the goalie for the 6-on-4 advantage.  They won the faceoff and got their PP set up…22-seconds later Jake Sloat found the top of the net on a shot from the left point that might have deflected off a defenseman.  It was 2-2 and with the Monarch players celebrating the equalizer goal a couple members of the Legacy/Northglenn team expressed their displeasure with the referee to include one of the players leaving the penalty box.  The verbal abuse resulted in two more minor penalties being called that would give Monarch a 5-on-3 advantage for the last 27 seconds and seemingly into the overtime period.

Overtime?  Who needs overtime?  With Monarch sky-high with momentum and having the 2-man advantage they won the faceoff and quickly moved into the offensive zone.  As Jake Sloat pushed the puck low to the left side of the ice, Danny Zawacki found himself standing all alone just above the right post.  Jake’s perfect saucer pass also found Danny and he buried the puck for the 3-2 lead with only 12-seconds remaining in the game.  53 seconds from 1:05 down to 0:12 and Monarch had turned a 2-0 deficit and seemingly unexpected early exit from the playoffs into a 3-2 win that seemingly carried them through the next two games.

Monarch finishes the championship season 16-1-0 having won 16 straight games.  Seniors Derek Scanlon, Kelly Stanton, Bobby Dominski, Chris Coyle and Matt Bloss all played huge roles in the championship weekend and the entire season and graduate as champions.  They helped to continue the championship trend that began in 2004 and pass the torch to the 17 juniors and sophomores who will return next year to defend their title.  The list includes Jake Sloat, Tate Kendall, Danny Zawacki, Daniel Sheehan, Max Meints, Nick Chabon, Will Carlson, Joe Bueltel, Alan Evans, Travis Belohrad, Gabe Keeler, Robbie Little, Timo Provosty, Brent Ritter, Landon Smith, Cameron Walker and Billy Ross.  Congratulations to Head Coach Jimmy Dexter and Assistant Coach Zach Meints.  Bring on the 2008 Regionals and the new season!