Desert Vista, Notre Dame face off for Division 1 championship
Arizona high school hockey’s showcase event will take place Saturday at Mullet Arena in Tempe, when Desert Vista and Notre Dame Prep face off for the Division 1 championship at 7 p.m.
“This, without a doubt, will be the highest-attended youth hockey game in the history of Arizona,” said Kenny McGinley, president of the Arizona High School Hockey Association, which oversees competition for varsity and junior varsity teams in the state.
McGinley, AHSHA president for nearly three years, expects a large crowd with a strong fan base from both schools filling the arena.
“Very rarely do we get games with a “split house” in terms of cheering and support,” said McGinley. “This will be the first time where we have a split house, where half of the crowd is cheering for one group, and half is cheering for the other, and that just makes it a really unique experience.”
This will be the first high school championship game held at Mullett Arena. Previous D-1 title games were held at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe.
Notre Dame Prep enters the game as the favorite. The Saints were dominant in the regular season, going 16-1-3 and finishing first in the 12-team D-1 with 35 points. The Thunder finished fourth, at 13-7-1 with 27 points.
Notre Dame, which lost last year’s D-1 championship game to Pinnacle, faced some adversity in the semifinal playoff game, trailing Basha 2-0 with only a few minutes left in the game. The Saints scored two goals to force overtime, where Notre Dame prevailed.
Notre Dame head coach Charles Miscio wasn’t surprised his team was able to come back in that game.
“At no time was I nervous about losing that game,” said Miscio. “Once we got the first goal, and the rubber hit the back of the net, we got that taste of blood and we just kept coming, and we built upon that momentum.”
Desert Vista appears to be hitting its stride at the perfect time. The Thunder are on a seven-game winning streak, and in that time, has averaged 5.3 goals per game. The streak included a 6-3 semifinal win over defending champ Pinnacle, which finished second in the regular season standings, one point behind Notre Dame.
Desert Vista head coach Mathew Blades attributes the recent form to several factors, including the team’s seniors.
“You have a bunch of kids who clearly recognize that this is one of their final high school games,” said Blades. “You have leaders who are recognizing that, and they want to finish strong.”
High school hockey has experienced a growth in popularity in Arizona over the past decade, McGinley said.
He attributes that to a few things, including the presence of the Arizona Coyotes, increased popularity of Arizona State University’s program and several prominent NHL players with local ties.
“The growth that we’re experiencing is the wave that started when the Coyotes made their Western Conference Final push in 2012,” said McGinley. “ASU going into NCAA Division 1 hockey, Auston Matthews, Josh Doan, it just continues to trend upwards, and we’re just riding that wave.”
For more information, ahsha.org.