Editor’s Note: The article has been updated to reflect the fact that Glenwood Springs High School was the state runner-up during the 2022-23 season.

Everyone loves a good Cinderella story. In fact, every March, millions of viewers will tune in for the NCAA March Madness men’s basketball tournament hoping that one of the final teams to make the tournament will go on an improbable run that rivals some of the blue-blood teams at the top of the bracket.

Very rarely, though, does the underdog team make it to the semifinals, let alone the championship game, but the Summit High School hockey team has managed to do just that as part of the 2024 Class 4A Colorado state hockey tournament.

The No. 10 Summit Tigers’ improbable and storybook season came to an honorable end, losing 4-2 to No. 4 Durango, who was crowned as the 2024 Class 4A state champs.

Summit’s monumental run to the state final game began nearly two weeks ago when the team defeated No. 7 Colorado Academy in the opening round on Feb. 22, before shocking No. 2 Steamboat Springs High School in double overtime last week.

Summit then faced No. 3 Liberty High School on Saturday, March 2, in the semifinal match, where the team continued to forge history as a program and pulled out more playoff heroics, successfully advancing to the state final game with a 4-3 victory.

The playoff run has not only been astonishing because Summit was the last team into the tournament, but also because the program had been plagued by losing in the first round of the playoffs for over a decade. 

With playoff magic running through the entire team’s veins, Summit departed from the high school on Tuesday afternoon with a police escort leading the team bus to Interstate 70 before setting course for Denver University’s revered Magness Arena.

Once off the bus, Summit fully turned its focus to Durango High School who upset the No. 1 seed and last year’s state runner-up, Glenwood Springs High School, on Saturday, 4-1.

With the two teams splitting 4A Mountain league games against each other earlier in the season, Summit and Durango searched for a decisive final win with the state championship trophy in the wings.

As Summit, Durango and overall hockey fans filtered into Magness Arena on Tuesday night, the two rival teams took to the ice and awaited the officials to drop the puck.

In a flash of skates and sticks, the game quickly got underway with both teams chasing after the puck in pursuit of an early goal.

The Durango Demons recorded the first few shots on net, slinging the puck at Summit senior goalie Finn Schroder, who firmly kept the game tied at 0-0.

However, after fighting off three consecutive shots from Durango, the Demons once again pushed the puck into its offensive zone, where senior Henry Howe put a shot past Schroder to take an early, 1-0, lead.

Instead of overreacting to the early goal, Summit settled back into the flow of the game, took a minute to breathe then established its offense on the other side of the ice. Recording its first shots on goal, the Tigers began to gain confidence as they continued to push the puck over the blue line and look for high-percentage scoring opportunities.

In the waning moments of the opening period, Summit finally started to see its perseverance on the offensive end pay off, peppering Durango junior goalie Luka Remec in shots, but failing to trigger the red lamp above the goal. 

Summit went into the second period, trailing 1-0 with the shots on net tied at 7-7.

Needing to possess the puck a little bit more in the second period, Summit returned to the ice with a new level of intensity that contrasted against the team’s play in the first 17 minutes.

Summit even went on a 2-minute penalty kill where the team not only prevented the puck from finding the pads of Schroder, but also attacked the net on the other side of the ice.

Back to five-on-five hockey, Durango made up for its failed power-play unit and dampened Summit’s ferocity, charging down the ice and rocketing a wrist shot at Schroder, who stretched out for the stop but was quickly met by a Durango rebound opportunity.

With a mostly empty net, Brady Holbrook pushed the Durango’s lead to 2-0, which angered the Summit bench. 

Soon after the second Demons’ goal, Summit junior Eli Powers was sent to the penalty box for roughing, which set up Durango’s third goal. Similarly to the second goal, Wynn Daniels followed up on a loose puck and quickly buried the shot past Schroder. 

Despite a three-goal lead, the Demons committed two penalties that gave Summit a chance to get on the board while on a four-on-three power play.

The minute the puck dropped after the penalties, Powers skated up the ice and found senior Cole Stuckey, who broke onto the scoreboard for the Tigers with a shot on the doorstep of the blue crease.

After 24 minutes of play, Summit trailed Durango 3-1.

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With the team’s backs against the wall, Summit did everything in its power to claw for goals in the third period, dominating possession time in its offensive zone and swarming in front of the net.

Junior Graham Schuman got dangerously close to scoring after using his speed and stick-handling skills to break through the defense, but his shot was stopped by Remec who continued to act like a brick wall in net.

As the game dipped under eight minutes remaining, Summit continued to control play in front of its net, rarely letting Durango touch the puck or clear the zone.

Following a brief respite from defending the net while on the power play, Durango closed out the remaining four minutes of play by keeping the puck away from Summit.

The Tigers saw their final opportunity for a goal on a power play to close the game. Wanting to pull within a goal of Durango, Schuman broke down the ice to score with 17 seconds remaining, but it was not enough to win the game. The Tigers’ improbable and storybook season came to an honorable end. They lost 4-2 to Durango, who was crowned as the 2024 Class 4A state champs.

“The boys obviously took it pretty hard, but I think they understand where we came from,” first-year Summit head coach Chris Miller said. “From not winning a playoff game in 18 years to making it to the finals. They are going to reflect on this and understand it was an amazing season. We are just hoping to set the foundation for teams in the future. The effort was there, but I think the big stage maybe kind of got to the boys. Hopefully, it will help us reset for next year.”

Summit concludes the season with an overall record of 10-11-1 and will graduate six seniors from the program later this spring. Graduating seniors include Schroder, Stuckey, Jackson Weir, Luke Weir, Henry Calvin and Tarn Ihnken.