About this time last year, Resurrection Christian junior center/left winger Jameson Snyder enjoyed being a spectator at the Greeley Ice Haus during Colorado Grit games in the North American Hockey League.
This winter, he and his Cougars are experiencing the Ice Haus in an even more direct, up-close way.
With the city of Greeley terminating its five-year lease with the Grit this past May, Resurrection Christian’s CHSAA-sanctioned high school program was quick to fill that vacancy.
“I grew up in Greeley, and this is where I learned how to play ice hockey,” Cougars head coach Tyler Weber, a 2013 Greeley Central graduate, said before his team’s practice at the Ice Haus this past Monday. “I love this rink, personally. I played college here, too. I love everything about it over here. And, being able to separate us from (the Poudre School District team out of Fort Collins) is the best thing.”
The Greeley Ice Haus first opened its doors in 2005, and Weber was part of the local hockey scene when it was just getting off the ground about a decade-and-half ago.
He said the presence the sport of hockey has in Greeley and northern Colorado is night and down from what it was when he played for Resurrection Christian’s hockey program in 2012-13.
“It’s crazy to me how big local hockey has become,” Weber said. “Being able to have two high school teams is a huge step from when I played. We only had one high school team when I played, and I think there were about 14 schools represented.”
The Ice Haus likely couldn’t ask for a more enthusiastic new resident.
The Cougars, who launched their program in 2011, have a young team this season.
But, like Greeley’s blossoming hockey scene, they hope to experience exponential growth during the winter season, which began Nov. 21 and extends into late-February and early-March.
In addition to drawing players from its own school, Resurrection Christian features student-athletes from Greeley and the many other area schools that don’t have their own hockey programs.
The Cougars and joined by only one other CHSAA-sanctioned program in northern Colorado, a Poudre School District that caters to Fort Collins-area athletes.
Determining its home ice is something Resurrection Christian does on a season-by-season basis.
Snyder recalls going to Grit games a season ago and walking away impressed with the atmosphere and energy of the venue.
“It’s just a really sick atmosphere,” Snyder said. “It’s pretty much the same feeling (as Grit game); it’s really rowdy in here. … It’s just really awesome, and it creates a mindset of, ‘We’ve got to really step up our game, especially when we’re playing there.'”
The Cougars also play high school-level hockey outside of the CHSAA season, as a member of the Colorado Prep Hockey League.
Resurrection Christian senior forward/right winger Tyler Johnson said he has noticed a consistent uptick in community interest from when he and his teammates were full introduced to the Ice Haus to now, during the winter high school season.
“It’s cool to put on a show for these new fans,” Johnson said. “It gives you something to play for. It gives you proud. It gives you just that extra umpf to get out on the ice and go lay a hit, make a nice pass, give the puck to (Snyder), let him go score.”
Though the city of Greeley has experience competitive hockey on numerous other levels in the past, this Resurrection Christian hockey team represents the first time there has been an in-city CHSAA-sanctioned high school hockey team.
And this Cougars team is perfectly suited to grow at a similar, rate consistent with how the city’s many avid prep sports fans’ interest in high school may grow.
More than half of the squad are freshmen and sophomores.
Johnson and Snyder have embraced leadership roles within the team, and Snyder said it hasn’t been difficult to motivate their young pupils.
“This whole team just runs off motivation,” Snyder said. “I love every one of these players, and I just want to see the best that they can do. I would like to eventually see us make it into the playoffs and see what we can do — upset some teams — or compete for a state title, maybe. I’m just really looking forward to seeing where we can go with this.”
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