Wolfpack roped and branded by Cattle Kings

Pack drops two over the weekend

It became painfully evident that the Wolfpack’s lack of ice time has had a negative effect on the team, as they dropped two games to the Kremmling Cattle Kings on Saturday, January 3 in Gunnison.

Not that I am endorsing an indoor rink by any means in Crested Butte, but with no discernable breakout and a completely disheveled power play, it’s obvious the Wolfpack needs more time on the ice.
On the positive side, once they do get into a regular practice routine and are able to play games on their home ice at Big Mine Ice Arena, things should turn around for the Wolfpack.
The Cattle Kings opened the scoring in the first game converting on a power play three minutes into the first period.
The Cattle Kings goalie turned away several opportunities by the Wolfpack to hold the one-goal lead, until Jake Grogg found Robbie Holleran back door for the backhand, tying the game 1-1.
The Cattle Kings responded with another power play goal to close the first period and proceeded to net two more, building a 4-1 lead on the Wolfpack with two minutes left in the second period.
The Wolfpack continued to plug away though, as individual efforts repeatedly set up opportunities, and Holleran scored three goals in a row to tie the game 4-4 with nine minutes left in the game.
Holleran’s first strike came when an errant clearing pass by the Cattle Kings slid straight to Holleran and he drilled the one-time slapshot into the upper triangle.
Thirty seconds later, Holleran struck again, slipping a low wrist-shot through the five-hole from the point.
Holleran completed the hat trick and tied the game six minutes into the third period with a high wrist-shot over the goalie’s shoulder and the Wolfpack appeared poised for a comeback win.
Wolfpack goalie Zach Van Dyke pulled off a blind kick-save on a blast from the point to hold the tie, but the Wolfpack defense continued to give the Cattle Kings way too much room around the Wolfpack net.
Kremmling took the lead once again on a wrap-around goal and added an insurance goal from the slot to ice the 6-4 win in the first game.
The Wolfpack returned to the ice to avenge the earlier loss, but struggled to find the back of the net despite several early chances.
The Cattle Kings built a 2-0 lead before the Wolfpack scored, when Sam Evans put one in looking to spark another Wolfpack surge.
Crested Butte carried their momentum from the goal to dominate the end of the first period and start of the second period, but the back of the net proved elusive.
Kremmling scored on a rebound to take a 3-1 lead, until Wolfpack defenseman Ben Frame took matters into his own hands.
As is his modus operandi, Frame carried the puck from behind his own net and into the neutral zone solo.
A lone Kremmling player attempted to bounce Frame off the puck, but to no avail as Frame skated onto goal to score, pulling the Wolfpack back to within one.
Here’s where the lack of ice time appeared to sink in on the Wolfpack, as they floundered through two power-play opportunities, giving up back-to-back short-handed goals to fall behind 5-2 midway through the third period.
After missing numerous solo efforts on net, Holleran and Sam Evans finally connected to produce a goal and assist each pulling the Wolfpack back into the game with 45 seconds left.
Down 5-4, Crested Butte pulled their goalie to set up the tying goal, but Kremmling cleared the puck of their zone and scored on the empty net to hand Crested Butte another 6-4 defeat.
The Wolfpack will hit the road this weekend to play Grand Valley January 10-11.