1 day Ago By Rich Allen, Aspen Daily News
Aspen seniors Landen Thurber, center, celebrates with Ryan Rigney, left, and Andrew Palmaz after scoring a goal that would eventually be overturned against Grand Junction on Monday night. The Skiers still won the game 14-7 to move to a perfect 13-0 on the season with one game left to play. Many sports teams, especially in high school, theme their character around the term “brotherhood.
” For the Aspen High lacrosse team, it cuts just a little deeper. It’s no coincidence in head coach Tommy Cox’s mind that the Skiers are putting forward their best regular season as a program a full decade after Mike Goerne led the program to its first state championship. A fair shake of Aspen’s current senior class — a dozen strong in numbers — were just getting their start in the sport in the first couple years of grade school at the time, watching it all unfold, undoubtedly dreaming of the day when their turn in the red and white would come.
This year, the team reaffirmed its commitment to each other, the program and everything it represents, led by that core group of seniors and quality contributors in lower classes. A lot happened in the decade in between, including the sudden and tragic deaths of not only Goerne and his assistant Owen Green in 2019, but that of a teammate and dear friend in Carson Clettenberg in 2022. “It means the absolute world to be as successful as we are 10 years from that date with this group of boys that Mike coached for a lot of their lives,” Cox said.
“We’re playing for something bigger and it’s translating on the field.” Aspen senior Tucker Devlin carries the ball against Grand Junction on Monday. Aspen won its 13th straight game to start the season on Monday night, besting Grand Junction in a game that the Tigers hung in early before the Skiers leaned on their tenacity and depth to pull away.
All the while, they broke down their huddles with chants of “Carson,” and wore gear emblazoned with Goerne and Green’s initials. Never in the team’s history had the Skiers won more than six straight games to start the season. Now, they’re one game away from completing the first undefeated regular season Aspen High has seen on the lacrosse field; even Goerne’s championship roster fell twice in the regular season.
It’s been the top-to-bottom buy-in to what the team has been trying to do and what it stands for that has driven the motivation, the players say. And the last chance for a core group to leave a lasting impression. “We all just decided collectively as a group that we’re going to work hard, this is our year.
” senior goaltender Treven Ward said. “Show up to everything in preseason, bonded and created that brotherhood. That was kind of our motto, ‘brotherhood,’ and be with each other every moment.
” Aspen senior goaltender Treven Ward sprays his water bottle as he prepares for the fourth quarter on Monday night against Grand Junction. Ward said that the notion of ‘brotherhood’ manifested on the field not only strategically, but emotionally. In previous years, he said, the group might have been negative toward each other if things weren’t going well — something that they’ve instead incited in other teams, Grand Junction on Monday night included.
Instead, Ward said they’ve always been uplifting toward each other and bringing positive energy, which he called “the juice.” Also different from previous years, players are sticking with the program. All high school sports in rural areas like Aspen lose athletes to club competition or other schools.
But this year in Aspen, players who previously left are coming back and playing integral roles. “You always hear the stories of your team and everyone coming up since your club. For us in a lot of sports, we get a lot of kids leave and stuff,” senior Ryan Rigney said.
“This year and this group of guys, we’ve all stayed and rallied and had a great time throughout high school. I’m going out there with five, six of my best friends that I’ve known since I was 7, that I went to first grade with, that I went to U10 practice down in El Jebel with and everything. And we are all coming together and working toward something that is hopefully special this year.
“We just have a love for lacrosse and a bond that was created because of lacrosse. If you look at the team it’s a lot of interesting kids, a lot of kids that you may not picture together. But on the team everyone is thick as thieves and working as hard as they can to improve each other.
” Monday marked the second time in a row the Skiers beat the Tigers, also doing so in Grand Junction on Saturday in a 10-6 matchup. Aspen was able to cycle in some of the senior players who haven’t gotten in as much playing time due to their inexperience, with guys like Alec Slesinger-Hall and Dom Montalbano getting the chance to let shots fly in the last few minutes, much to the delight of their teammates — even if none found the back of the net. “Playing minutes doesn’t always mean impact on the team, right?” Cox said.
“Those guys play a contributing role to this team every second they’re on the field with us. It means the world to see them fighting at the end like that and being with their brothers.” Twelve of Aspen’s 14 goals in the senior night win came from 12th graders: Rigney scored five, Gavin Terry scored three, Landen Thurber scored two and Tucker Devlin and Andrew Palmaz each scored one.
Sophomore Henry Denis had the other two goals. In the senior night celebration, Cox used the word “brotherhood” or “brother” when introducing each of his seniors. At the conclusion, senior Andrew Palmaz passed jersey No.
20, which Goerne wore as a player, to junior Bobby Lizotte for next season. Aspen senior Andrew Palmaz, left, passes jersey No. 20 to junior Bobby Lizotte at the conclusion of senior night festivities on Monday night.
The jersey number was worn by former coach Mike Goerne during his playing days and is used to honor a player of character each season. Following the contest, the Tigers were ranked at No. 10 in the 4A classification.
Aspen jumped up to No. 2 despite being the last team remaining without a loss, trailing only the 12-2 Dakota Ridge Eagles, punished by their strength of schedule on the Western Slope. An opportunity to prove their mettle against Front Range teams was lost when 5A Heritage out of Littleton canceled their match in Aspen due to weather last week.
Still, the Skiers have taken what their location has given them. They’re 5-0 against other teams currently in the 4A top 10, outscoring them 61-23. They trounced No.
9 Fruita Monument 14-1 on April 15 and No. 7 Telluride 15-4 on April 22. They swept Grand Junction four days apart.
But one of the truest indicators that this team is different from other iterations of the Skiers was an 8-5 win over Steamboat Springs (currently ranked No. 8 in 4A) on March 20, snapping an 11-game losing streak against the Sailors that goes back to the 2017 playoffs. For the perfect regular season, the Skiers will have to stymy the Sailors one more time on Thursday at their place.
Pending the results of their Tuesday-night game at Lutheran, Steamboat could come into that game having won three in a row and seven of their last eight games. “That was the big accomplishment early in the season,” Ward said. “Our first big checkmark was beating Steamboat at home and we accomplished that.
So we’re hoping to get the last checkmark, which is beating Steamboat away.” After that, there’s at least five more checkmarks to get back to Colorado high school lacrosse royalty, reaching a place the program hasn’t been in a decade. This brotherhood is ready for the challenge.
“Many years there’s been this misconception that we just expect to do this and that stuff and I think everyone here is sick and tired of hearing all that,” Rigney said. “We’ve been doing the same thing since we were 6, so it’s just pure nostalgia. It’s awesome.
There’s nothing really better that I could say. The group is special because everyone’s so different. It shows you the beauty and chaos.
” Faceoff is at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
The playoffs are slated to start next week — though Aspen is all but certain to secure a first-round bye. Aspen seniors and coaches pose for a photo on senior night on Monday. The team is one win away from the program's first undefeated regular season.
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