The Fort Collins hockey team defeated the Centaurus Warriors 7-0 during their first home game on Saturday December 4, 2021. 

First things first, it’s important to address why the Fossil paper is covering the Fort Collins High School hockey team. The reasoning is quite simple, as the Collins hockey team has players from all over the Front Range. Apart from Collins, the team also has players from Poudre, Windsor, Mountain View, Liberty, Berthoud, and Fossil Ridge. Fossil has the most players of any school on the team, and the Sabercats showed up, scoring six of Collins’ seven goals.

Players from Fossil Ridge include: 

Jason Campos, Easton Conway, Gabe Cramer, Trenton Dobson, Brysen Gardner, Bennett Johnson, Carter Jung, Peter Kelly, Braeden Kerr, Tyler Sledz, and Nikolas Theysohn.

Three of the goals came from sophomore defenseman Braeden Kerr, scoring the first hat trick of the year for the Lambkins. He scored all three of his goals during the first two periods. Kerr talked about what went through his head as he scored his third goal of the night.

“I thought that one was a lucky bounce. I was on the goal line and just threw it at the net. I’ve haven’t had a hat trick since I was a forward so that felt good,” Kerr said.

Despite winning the game, Collins was tested as they were on the Penalty Kill multiple times a period, including a five-minute major and a stretch of 5-on-3. The Lambkins fought through the penalties, not allowing a single goal and scoring a shorthanded goal of their own, courtesy of Kerr.

“We won a lot of faceoffs, we have a different penalty kill…it helps create more pressure and gets them on their heels,” Kerr said.

This was Collins’ first game where they were allowed full capacity fans since 2019. The players felt the support, noticing the energy and the positivity the fans were able to provide.

“[Having fans] it hypes you up a bit. When you score you get to see all the people you go to school with going crazy and stuff, it’s pretty nice.”

The Lambkins will be back in action at home on Friday, December 10 against Monarch.