For the past three summers, the Centennial boys’ high school hockey program has taken an out-of-state trip to play hockey, bond and explore. Here is the play-by-play of Cougars’ recent trip to Colorado, written by assistant coach Ted Cheesebrough and sent to parents and family members in Minnesota:

"This winter will be my 17th season coaching 17-year-olds. Based on experience gained during that time, I suspect there were probably numerous conversations along the lines of the following when we got back from Colorado:

Parent: How was Colorado?
Player: Good.
Parent: Did you have fun?
Player: Yeah.
Parent: How were the games?
Player: We won.
— scene —

Accordingly, I thought I’d provide you with a slightly more detailed follow-up of the Colorado trip.
The format was a four-team round robin for Friday and Saturday, with the group’s top two finishers and bottom two finishers playing one another on Sunday. In Game 1, we faced the Rocky Mountain Roughriders (a mix of their U16 and U18 teams). The Roughriders set a physical tone early, prompting a parade to the box and tons of special teams play in the first period.
Hayden Brickner scored a power-play goal early. Graham Brickner also scored in his first ever appearance as a varsity captain. And Luke Arends and Tyler Jamison-Ekeling combined for a power-play goal.
Meanwhile, we allowed a 5-on-4 goal and a 5-on-3 goal in the first and led 3-2 after one. The Roughriders tied the game 3-3 early in the 2nd and the physical nature continued.
We stood our ground in response while four Roughriders got ejected. After a 10-minute delay while the officials sorted out penalties, Lucas McGregor raced down the ice and scored to regain the lead. Four minutes later, Max Dunnom scored on a rebound off of a McGregor shot to extend our lead to 5-3.
Then 90 seconds later, McGregor ripped a one-timer to give us a 6-3 lead after two periods.
In the third period, McGregor complete his hat trick, Dunnom added his second of the game and we won 8-4. Travis Allen was solid in nets, allowing only one even-strength goal.

Saturday was a full hockey day with games in the late morning and late afternoon. Game 2 saw us face off against the Dakota Ridge Eagles, a team that made the Colorado state tournament semifinals last year.
Dakota Ridge would score a power-play goal five minutes into the game. But 14 seconds later, Graham Brickner tied it with assists from Hayden Brickner and Zack Kelly. Then Carter Wagner wristed one in less than two minutes later and we had a 2-1 lead after one period.
We dominated play for much of the second — Graham Brickner added his second goal of the day on a terrific deflection of a Frankie Weiss shot from the left point. Then Jack Menne one-timed a backdoor goal home on a great pass and hustle play from Wagner (which prevented an icing call against us).
It was more of the same in the third, as we kept Dakota Ridge to the perimeter while pounding the blue ice. Ryan Kranz added a great goal from the right point off of passes from Tyler Jamsion-Ekeling and Alex Knight and we won 5-1.
Bryce Crowley was 20 of 21 in net and got the win after our five unanswered goals.

Game 3 was against the Monarch Coyotes, who played in the past four Colorado State Championship games. Monarch graduated 17 seniors off of their 2015-16 team — a team which went undefeated last year until losing in the state title game.
Menne, Dunnom, McGregor, Kranz and Rollie Carlson got us started against the Coyotes, getting two goals a mere 13 seconds apart early in the first. Menne scored on a rebound, and Kranz added one almost immediately thereafter, thanks to a great pass from McGregor and terrific net front presence by Menne.
A.J. Wettstein popped one in from Matt Jennrich to give us a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
That lead might have invited some complacency, as we let the Coyotes back into the game in the first five minutes of the second. Monarch got the game to 3-2 with two quick ones before Wettstein added his second of the game, from Brady Partington and Knight, to extend our lead to 4-2. The Coyotes pulled back another one to get it to 4-3 after two periods.
After a second intermission spent re-focusing, we got our act together, hit the throttle, and had our best period of the day, outshooting Monarch 16-4 and getting goals from each Partington, McGregor, and Dominik Routhe.
The final score was 7-3 and Hunter Hayden got the win, as we outshot the Coyotes 36-16.

Sunday brought Game 4, a title game rematch against the Roughriders. Given our Friday night match-up, and watching the Roughriders play their two games on Saturday, we were more prepared for what we might see from them entering the last day.
It was another physical affair, but we were better in every aspect of the game: possession, puck movement, offense, defense, finishing, physicality and composure. They had four different players tossed (again), while their coach was also ejected. The officials kept the teams accountable — and the scoresheet ultimately reflected that, given the amount of their penalties compared to ours, and given the amount of our goals compared to theirs.
When the Roughriders took a penalty early in the game, Graham Brickner made them pay, scoring a power-play goal only four mins into the first. Later in the first, Luke Arends won a battle at the defensive blue and upped the puck to McGregor, who attacked a 2-on-1 with Austin Kanner and scored on a terrific upper short-side finish, providing us with a 2-0 lead after one period.
We dominated the second period, absorbing the Roughriders' best shots while continuing to play keep-away with the puck and hammering their net with pucks and bodies. Kanner scored a beautiful wrist shot goal, bar-down, moving right to left just inside the blue line; and by the end of two periods we were up 3-0, having outshot the Roughriders, 25-10.
We got stronger and more confident as the game went on, while it looked like the Riders were out of ideas — they couldn’t skate with us, they couldn’t score on us (they managed only one even strength goal against us in two games), and they couldn’t intimidate us. They beat us in only two statistics all weekend: penalty minutes and ejections. They had nine guys thrown out (eight players plus a coach), while we had three guys get the gate.
Missing skaters and out of sorts, the Roughriders didn't return to the ice for the third. An odd result, but an affirming one nonetheless. Our guys enjoyed the game and it definitely served to bring us together.

That afternoon, players split up and did various things with teammates/coaches/family members. We had a couple of carloads go to Boulder, we had several players go hiking in National Parks, while others went golfing, and some hung at the pool. Boulder is fantastic — great college town; Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park are both terrific; and the trails at nearby Chautauqua were great.

Monday saw us visit the Colorado Avalanche practice facility. The appearance of the rink belied what the day had in store. We walked into the “Family Sports Center” (actual name), and after we passed a bouncy house, some skee-ball alleys, and a laser tag arena, we got back to the Avalanche practice sheet.
There, we were met by Tyler Reddy, a former college hockey player who works public relations for the Avalanche, and by Pierre Turgeon, a No. 1 overall NHL draft pick, former captain of the Montreal Canadiens, veteran of more than 1,400 NHL games and current head of the Avalanche Alumni Association. The Avs had suggested that we put together a regular practice and Pierre and Tyler would jump in.
Pierre was just one of the guys — I’m not sure how Pierre felt when Graham chose to shoot it himself as they attacked a 3-on-2 together, or when Tristan Johnson kept it and shot while he and Pierre attacked a 2-on-1 — and it was awesome.
Notably, Turgeon was stopped on a breakaway by Bryce in our shootout competition at the end of practice. He also spent 10 minutes doing face-off work with Hayden, Jack, Alex, A.J. and others. After the icetime, we sat with Turgeon for a 15 minute Q&A. The whole experience was tremendous.
The Avs presented us with a stick signed by their entire team and a signed home jersey from their captain and all-star, Gabriel Landeskog. Both of those will be on display in our locker room. It’s hard to articulate how well the Avalanche treated us — they are a first class organization.

On Tuesday, we visited the University of Denver and met with several members of their coaching staff (assistants Dave Carle and Tavis MacMillan) and we also met up with Cougar alum and current Denver Pioneer Packy Munson. We toured their rink, locker room, video room, players lounge, weight room and more. Coach Carle gave us a tour of campus; talked about his experiences as a player, coach, and student at Denver and took questions. And that afternoon, the team went to the massive Denver water park. It was another tremendous day.

Wednesday brought a scenic drive up into the Rockies, as the team visited Devil's Thumb Ranch, just west of Winter Park. The whole day was a movie. We had groups fly-fishing, white-water rafting, herding cattle on horseback and zip-lining. Frankly, our pictures of these activities look fake.
The rafters had waves coming in over either side of their boats, the fishermen were catching trout in rushing waters and the cowboys rode their horses IN A FOREST ON THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN.
In the afternoon, the players were split into four groups to compete against one another in the "Pioneer Challenge.” Players earned points in four different events: lassoing, log-cutting, archery and a wall climb. The Pioneer Challenge was a complete clown-show. After completing the Pioneer Challenge, we had a great BBQ meal, complete with brisket, pork, ribs, chicken, mac & cheese, beans and slaw. The players would probably call our entire day “sick,” or maybe even “lit."

Thursday saw the boys choose to do whatever they liked. Some were at the mall, some hiked, some golfed, some went to downtown Denver for the 50% off sale at the Pepsi Center and still others just lounged around at the resort – and almost the entire team ended up at the pool/hot tub later that day. On Thursday night, my photographer bride arranged for the hotel to screen a slideshow of her more than 3,000 photos from the games, the Avs, and the Ranch – and 35 players, coaches and family members sat in the hotel restaurant and watched this 45-minute recap of the trip.

Friday’s return to Minneapolis-St. Paul was a breeze. This was pretty much the perfect finish to a high school Summer Training Program and a great way to end the Minnesota State High School League’s summer contact period.

From my perspective, it was the trip of a lifetime (although some of our players are lucky enough to have now done this three times, twice in Colorado and once in New York City). When I asked players for their thoughts on the trip, here’s what they said:
“There’s nothing better than representing your state by playing the sport you love with the people you love.” -senior forward Max Dunnom
“When can we go back?” -junior goaltender Travis Allen
Meanwhile, junior captain Lucas McGregor’s actions spoke louder than anything he might say. Noting how the drive up into the Rockies was incredible, he wanted to memorialize the car ride from up in the mountains back down to our hotel in the foothills. He did exactly that by using his phone to make a time-lapse video which required him to place his phone in the dash of the rental car, and then hold it still, with a stick, for AN HOUR AND A HALF. The result was undoubtedly worth it. See for yourself.

On a related note, numerous alumni have contacted us to pass along their support, but to also wonder aloud, "How come we never got to do something like this?”
This adventure was well worth the time, money and effort that so many people contributed in order to make it happen. The guys will remember it forever."