ALAMOSA – Joshua Ortiz, who attended Centauri High School, started ice skating at the young age of one. He started playing ice hockey three years later and played in the San Luis Valley until he was 11.

At age 11, he started getting scouted by coaches from Colorado Springs. The following year, he went on to play competitively for the Colorado Rampage.

This saw him make 2-3 long trips to Colorado Springs for training.

Then during the spring season, he would train with the Colorado Springs Tigers AAA Club, and in the spring, he would train with a AAA hockey coach for the West Elk Club and Gunnison in Crested Butte. He would make a 2-3-hour drive one wat twice during the week, and once on weekends.

Ortiz also played locally for the San Luis Valley Yetis. He enjoyed playing for his home team and found it a refuge for him when he could balance it with his travel schedule.

Eventually, his family moved to Colorado Springs in the spring of 2023 so he could begin training five hours on the ice a day while working with professional coaching. He left Centauri for a semester and transfer to Springs Studio for Academic Excellence School. This school specializes in alternative schedules to help student-athletes pursue their dreams.

Ortiz moved back to the San Luis Valley, and was then offered a position as a forward right wing on the Monument Hockey Club, and then the Rampage in 2025.

“The best piece of advice I got from coach (Justin) Walters was you can’t want something more than you’re willing to work for it,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz did a lot of traveling with the Monument Hockey Club. The states he visited included Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio.

It was a long journey, but the hard work and traveling paid off for Ortiz as he was picked by his coaches out of thousands of hockey players in the country as one of 80 players to compete as a North American Prospect Hockey League Top Prospect in Columbus, Ohio.

This gave Ortiz the opportunity to demonstrate his skills to Junior A coaches around the country. He was able to score goals and give assists for his Top Prospect teammates.

His efforts paid off as he got several offers from NAHL Juniors teams from around the country.

Two of Ortiz’s Yetis teammates, Alec Bryant and Seth Van Iwarden, accompanied him to the NAHL Top Prospects tournament and both also received offers to play from different teams.

“I had so many mentors, coaches and teammates who helped me along the way and helped guide my career and I am so grateful,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz spent as much as six hours per day on the ice for training and did homework while he was traveling. His eating schedule was strict as he consumed as much as 7,000 calories per day to avoid burnout, as well as time in the gym for development.

He had to contend with a lot of different decisions that affected his family life, relationships with friends and also his hockey career.

He wanted to maintain his close relationships with friends in the San Luis Valley, and he chose to work with the coaches in Monument that allowed him to make trips to Colorado Springs for practice and games 2-3 times during the week and on weekends.

“Monument was great about allowing him to still maintain a normal high school life with close friends and still compete nationwide and get the exposure he wanted,” said Ortiz’s mother, Kelly.

During his time playing hockey, he made several new friends and great connections with other players and coaches. He was able to talk with many experienced players, including NHL players and learn from their individual journeys as well.

Some of Ortiz’s most memorable moments with the San Luis Valley Yetis were playing where the ice was melting in Taos (N.M.) or playing at the outdoor rink at Los Alamos (N.M.) in extreme cold and bright lights.

While with Monument, his favorite memories were flying with his teammates, eating seafood in Boston, or playing practical jokes on coach Justin Walters.

Ortiz is unsure what he wants to do next, but he has several offers from NAHL Juniors teams.

“No matter what I do next, I feel like my hockey experiences will help guide me for the rest of my life,” Ortiz said.