TJ students already participating in the C-470 league.
From left: Mike Montgomery, Jake Hazan and Mitch Montgomery are suited up ready to shred the ice. photo by Leigh Montgomery
While it may not yet be as popular as football or baseball, ice hockey is blazing its own path through the Colorado youth sports world. With popularity and participation increasing in mass numbers each season, there is no telling how big hockey will soon become in the Centennial state.
Among the many youth hockey leagues in Colorado, one in particular is the C-470 League, a competitive recreational league drawing from the Denver, Foothills, and Arapahoe area. The league level is ‘Midget Major,’ designated for male or female players aged 15 to 18. C-470 consists of 12 teams from three different associations, all with NHL nick names. The Flyers and the Jets play for the Foothills hockey club at The Edge ice arena, the Flames and the Kings are from Front Range at Big Bear Ice Arena, and the Sabres, Penguins, Islanders, Canadians, Stars, Lightning, Sharks and Predators play for the Arapahoe Hockey Club at Family Sports Ice Arena.
Each team plays 18 games spanning from October to March, followed by playoffs. The Championship Game is set to be played at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. Each game is sixty minutes long, with the first and second periods being fifteen minutes, and the third period being twelve. All the game info and stats are sent to Pointstreak.com, a new and innovative website where players and fans can view game results, standings, league leaders and more.
So far at the halfway point of the season, roughly eleven games have been played. Leading the league with a solid record of 9 wins 1 loss and 1 tie is the Sabres, who also possesses Max Ellickson; the league’s top scorer with 8 goals and 12 assists in only 10 games. Although the league is recreational, it is highly competitive. And while there are 12 teams, only 8 are allowed into the playoffs, and each team is racing for a spot as the season slowly draws to a close.
One team to focus on in particular is the Big Bear Flames, who possess three players from TJ: Seniors Mike Montgomery and Jake Hazan, and Junior Mitch Montgomery. The three are on the same line, and are also the top scorers on the team. The three contributed to roughly half of the goals scored so far this season. Also, the Flame’s goaltender is 4th in the league, with 5 wins, 2 shutouts, 224 total saves, and a goals-against-average of 1.89.
The Flames currently sit at a respectable 7th place, with a record of 5 wins, 6 losses, and 2 ties. “We just came off of a three game winning streak, and despite a pretty tough loss the other weekend, we’re trying our best to rack up some wins late in the season so we can really explode when the playoffs start,” said Flames’ Assistant Captain Jake Hazan. “Our ultimate goal is to play in the championship game at the Pepsi Center.” Hazan currently has 4 goals, 5 assists and 9 points after 12 games.
The C-470 league is living proof that hockey is a sport on the rise in Colorado. Each season the league grows with more teams, more players, and more associations joining in. It won’t be long before ice hockey in Colorado is just as big as baseball, basketball, or football.
