Summit High School’s winter sports programs have seen great success this year. Every team qualified for the post season, and the school has seen everything from state champions to historical playoff berths in the last two weeks.

The hockey team added to the school’s list of accolades after successfully winning its first playoff game in more than 10 years against Colorado Academy on Thursday, Feb. 22, at Denver University’s Joy Burns Arena.

Prior to the start of the season, first-year head coach Chris Miller had a few goals in mind when taking over the team during the offseason. With a history of moderate success that always ended in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs, Miller was set on establishing a strong culture that would hopefully lead the team to the second round for the first time in over a decade.

The team’s hard work paid off on Thursday afternoon against Colorado Academy.

Seeded as the No. 10 seed in the 10-team tournament, Summit traveled to Denver to take on No. 7 Colorado Academy after losing to the team, 3-2, in the first game of the season on Dec. 1.

Wanting to show how much the team has grown, Summit began the game looking to strike first by putting an early goal on the board.

After several minutes on its heels, Summit managed to flip the ice and begin rocketing shots at the net. The Tigers eventually found the twine at the back of the net when junior Jevin Palmquist slid a pass to junior Eli Powers.

Summit continued on the attack following the goal, but an untimely turnover at the top of the Tigers’ offensive zone led to a breakaway down the ice by Colorado Academy, who managed to slide a shot past Summit goalie Finn Schroder.

Tied at 1-1, the two teams continued to battle in the second 17-minute period. The Tigers delivered the next blow when senior Luke Weir sent a fiery shot to the back of the net from way out by the blue line.

Similar to the first goal, Summit continued to skate hard and control the pace of the game, but it was Colorado Academy who answered the call again, tying the game at 2-2.

It was ultimately a five-minute penalty against Colorado Academy for roughing that changed the course of the game.

At the end of the second period, Wyatt Boeckers scored a power-play goal to give Summit a one goal advantage. The Tigers managed to extend upon it in the final period. With time still left on the power play, Summit scored its fourth goal, this time from the stick of Henry Waldorf, minutes into the third period.

“When the penalty happened, we kept our cool,” Miller said. “You want to stand up for your teammates, but you don’t want to send yourself to the box, so it kind of started there. Earlier in the season, we went from a 1-3-1 power play to a simpler umbrella version and focused on front traffic, and it made the difference for us.”

With the two-goal advantage, Summit successfully fought off the final efforts from Colorado Academy while sinking an open-net goal to advance to the next round of the playoffs with a 5-2 win.

“It came down to belief in themselves — and belief in the abilities of the team,” Miller said. “We just have so much individual skill, which is great to have, but it is not going to stream together wins. They looked around the locker room and realized who they were playing for, and it made the difference.”

Summit will now face 4A Mountain league rivals Steamboat Springs High School in Steamboat Springs on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Summit lost both games against Steamboat Springs during the regular season with the last meeting on Feb. 9 going to overtime.

With a burning desire to continue to make history as a program, Summit will look to get the best of No. 2 Steamboat Springs in order to advance to the semi-finals.

“We played these guys, took them to overtime and made a mistake that cost us in overtime,” Miller said. “Steamboat is a physical team. We need to stay out of trouble and not be the second guy in, keep our composure, understand it is going to be a physical game but not retaliate. — and then, just limit our mistakes.”

The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Steamboat Springs’ Howelsen Park Ice Arena.