DENVER — Sam Simon tried to find a quiet spot to himself.

He kneeled near a tunnel, unable to leave the ice as he waited for a trophy presentation.

He couldn’t get a spare moment because every single person at Pepsi Center wanted to give him a pat on the back or a hug.

Simply put, the Fort Collins High School hockey goaltender on Tuesday had one of the greatest performances in Colorado state championship game history in a game that will long be remembered.

The hint of tears across his face when the captain of the Lambkins was handed a second-place trophy showed the cruelty of sport.

Despite Simon’s stalwart performance, Valor Christian beat Fort Collins 1-0 in five overtimes. It was the longest hockey championship game in Colorado history.

Simon made 84 saves, tying a national high school record, according to CHSAANow.com.

“He’s phenomenal. There’s a reason why we’re here and he’s a big part of that reason,” Fort Collins coach Dylan Strom said. “He made 81 or whatever it was saves in that game. It was incredible.”

George Gwozdecky — the Valor Christian coach who has coached with the Tampa Bay Ligntning in the NHL and is a two-time national champion coach at the University of Denver — walked down the hallway after winning Valor Christian's first hockey title and couldn’t stop talking about the opposing goaltender.

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“Sam Simon did a great job. There’s so many superlatives to describe his performance, but he was outstanding,” said Gwozdecky, who grabbed Simon for a private word of encouragement on the ice after the game. “Simon kept them in the game. He did a wonderful job.”

Simon was the reason No. 3 Fort Collins (18-4-1) was in the game late and then into the overtime periods with No. 1 Valor Christian (20-2-1).

Valor applied heaps of pressure from the start, pouring 14 shots on in the first period and 18 in the second. Simon made routine saves. He made spectacular saves.

Through it all, he was calm and composed.

And yet, after the game he pointed the finger at himself after Valor’s Evan Pahos made a move around Simon with 2:12 left in the fifth overtime to score the winning goal.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” Simon said. “It’s a save I could make all night long, I just didn’t make it. I kind of let them down a little bit.”

More:Goalie Sam Simon leads Fort Collins High hockey into state title game vs. Valor Christian

It’s the humble take of a captain — Simon wears the ‘C’ for the Lambkins — but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

In four playoff games, the Rocky Mountain High School junior saved 206 of 211 shots for a .976 save percentage. He made 56 saves in a double-overtime quarterfinal win.

He never wavered, his No. 33 jersey doing the No. 33 of Patrick Roy in the rafters of Pepsi Center proud. Even 20 minutes after the game he had a big grin, despite the exhaustion he must have felt.

“I’m just out there having fun,” Simon said. “Obviously winning is fun, so could have had more fun tonight.”

By the end of the game, it was all a battle of will. Players were shoveling Gatorade, water and maybe an orange down during each intermission. After three 17-minute periods, the teams went to 8-minute overtimes.

The first two overtimes were 5-on-5 hockey before the game shifted to 4-on-4 the rest of the way.

Both teams were clearly gassed by the end. Valor Christian just had more chances through the nigh and it paid off. The Eagles outshot Fort Collins 85-36 as Valor goalie Trey Hirschfield earned the shutout.

The Fort Collins team was hurting, mentally and physically, after the game. It will take time, but they’ll soon appreciate that they played in one of the best championship games ever.

With just one senior on the team representing Fort Collins four major high schools, the message was shared as they entered the locker room.

“Next year.”

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