The Summit High hockey team gave one back with an in-conference loss to Chatfield, 3-2 at home Saturday. The Tigers were on a three-game win streak.

“Chatfield is obviously a good team. They played well — take nothing away from them. We had some power play opportunities that we just didn't convert on,” said head coach Chris Ruhly. “We were in the game, though, and that's the important part. We need to continue to battle and figure out how to close out games.”

The game was scoreless heading into the second period, and Chatfield came back onto the ice strong with two goals by Kyle Davis. Drake Blass poked one in 47 seconds into the third, but Chatfield responded with a goal of their own just two minutes later.

Summit tacked on another, again courtesy of Blass with 20 seconds left in the game. The Tigers pulled their goalie, but weren't able to mobilize quickly enough to pull off the miracle.

Things got a little chippy, especially toward the end, with 16 total penalties handed out — 10 alone in the third. Co-captain Evan Streit spent 14 minutes in the box, including a 10-minute stay for misconduct - checking from behind. But Chatfield had the majority of the penalties, with 10.

“I'm happy with how we were able to control our emotions, even though things started to get a little chippy. But, again, it's a situation where we need to convert our opportunities, and we need to close out games,” said Ruhly.

Tyrus Vanmatre, again, came out big in goal for the Tigers with 30 saves. Summit had a leg up, out shooting Chatfield 37-33.

“We need to play our style of game, which is what we did in the second period. Their first two goals were breakdowns on our defensive part. If we minimize our mistakes, then we stay in that game,” Ruhly said.

The Tigers slipped to 3-2 in conference, which is the record they care about because it's the one that will put them into the playoffs. Their overall record is 7-4.

Summit will have a couple practice days before taking on a very solid Ralston Valley team on the road Wednesday. Summit is currently fifth in the league standings.

Summit hoops lose in a squeaker, 57-52

The Tiger basketball team lost in a hard-fought, back-and-fourth game against Buena Vista at home on Saturday. The final score was 57-52.

Summit was down two points at the end of the first quarter, one at halftime and two at the end of third. They ultimately lost by five, but head coach Phil Tronsrue said it was one of the better games they've played.

Coy Coker was the top scorer with 20 points. Markeith McDonald had 14.

“I think this was probably one of our best games of the year,” Tronsrue said. “Everybody just played well. We played pretty good defense — good man defense, which we hadn't been doing. We ran our offense pretty good. We didn't get excited and just start jacking shots up.”

He attributed the loss to missed shots, free throws and bad turnovers, but on the whole liked what he saw out of his players.

“If we could play that well every night, we would be in a lot more contests,” Tronsrue said.

Summit slipped to 2-10 on the season. The team will face Evergreen at home on Wednesday.

SHS Alpine team takes 5th, 7th

The Summit alpine ski team battled brutal conditions at an Eldora GS on Friday. The boys' team finished in fifth, and the girls' took seventh.

Individually, the team had some decent results with Lucas Michieli leading the charge for the boys in 16th, followed by Robert Powell (19th) and Andreas Foulk (23rd).

Freshman Nicky Wagner was the top finisher for the girls in 23rd, followed by Karly Rose (34th) and Kat Werckman (38th).

“It was some really, really tough conditions — snowy and cold. And we had 200 racers on one course, so the course was completed rutted out,” said coach Tommy Gogolen.

Gogolen said he's happy with the progress of the young team. They've already qualified 11 racers for the state meet. Racers need to finish in the top 30 percent of a given race to qualify, and they must qualify for both GS and slalom individually.

“It was a good opportunity to compare ourselves and see where we stack up against other teams. Because it was such a big field (Friday), it was a good test for us with states coming up in a couple weeks at Beaver Creek,” Gogolen said.

State qualifiers (thus far) Boys: Ridge Strickler, GS; Ryan Wignall, GS/SL; Lucas Michieli, GS/SL; Brian Coleman, GS/SL; Robert Powell, GS/SL; Nick Resignolo, GS/SL

Girls: Nicky Wagner, GS/SL; Ciarra Morrison, GS/SL; Karly Rose, SL; Kat Werckman, SL; Lizi Anderson, SL