Of the six teams in their under-19 girls league, the Telluride Lizard Head hockey team is second only to the mighty Colorado Select, which, as you might guess, is very selective.

Telluride is seeded ahead of other teams from much bigger towns, like Arvada and Aspen.

“The teams that we’re competing with are so much larger than we are that it’s really amazing we’re where we are,” says John Cohn, the team’s coach.

Those four teams will meet in Aspen this weekend for the “Frozen Four” state championship.

Despite the tough competition, Cohn is optimistic that his team can come out on top. Telluride has beaten Arvada and Aspen and has tied Colorado Select.

“It’s gonna be a dog fight,” he says. “I think we can win this thing.”

He believes his girls, despite coming from a smaller town, are athletic and determined enough to win.

“These are seriously coordinated girls,” he says. Knowing how to ski gives hockey players an advantage, since some of the same side-to-side and edge-to-edge movement is involved. The girls, who range in age from 14 to 18, are more dedicated to the sport than he could have expected, he says.

For example: the Kenny girls, Sam and Emily, are driven to Telluride from Montrose three times a week by their hyper-dedicated father, Tim.

Cohn sits at a local coffee shop, wearing a jacket and hat emblazoned with logos from Lizard Head hockey. These are actually from the days when he coached his son, Charlie, and his team won the state championship.

When his son left for college (he now plays club hockey for the University of California Davis) Cohn decided he still wanted to coach. He seems to have found his new calling with this team.

He says they’re tough, taking slap shots to the ankle but refusing to whine.

“In fact, some of them come to practice sick and I gotta send ‘em home,” Cohn says.
When Cohn talks about the girls, his face beams, his eyes twinkle, and his pride practically bubbles out.

“You know,” he says, “I didn’t have any girls, and I always thought it’d be fun to have a girl, and see what kind of athlete they’d  be. I’m sort of getting this thrill out of coaching these girls.”

The games start Friday.