Colorado Coach of the Year

Denver East Hockey’s Kopperud For The Win

Story and photos by Reid Neureiter

For the GPHN

East High Hockey coach John Kopperud was honored last month by Mile High Sports magazine as Colorado High School Coach of the Year, across all schools, all divisions, and all sports.

The January 2023 edition of the magazine highlighted Kopperud’s seven-year effort to turn the East hockey team (which is made up of players from a number of DPS schools, not just East) into both state and national champions, two titles which the Angels won last year.

A formal announcement of the award honoring Kopperud was made at East’s Jan. 7 game against Fort Collins at Big Bear Ice Arena, which the Angels won in overtime by the score of 1-0. Kopperud told Mile High Sports that the biggest challenge building a championship program was changing the mentality of the East players and turning what had been a more casual program into a competitive one.

“They have so many things pulling them in different directions,” he was quoted saying. “It’s tough getting the kids all on the same page, committed to building a championship program.”

Getting to the pinnacle once is difficult, and it is even harder to do it twice in a row.

“Last year we had all the pieces in place,” Kopperud told the Greater Park Hill News when asked about East Hockey’s chances for a championship repeat. “This year we are not quite there, but are among the top five that have a chance at the title. We still have more work to do.”

As of Jan. 13, East’s record stood at 5-2. The Angels conclude their regular season with a rematch against Championship finalist Valor Christian on Saturday, Feb. 11 and a Wednesday match against Regis Jesuit on Feb. 15.