Wolfpack hockey woes continue in match with Durango

Close regular season in Telluride

The Crested Butte Wolfpack came into their double header against Durango on Saturday, February 6 primed for a win. With the entire team back in action and seemingly healthy, it was time for a classic Wolfpack late season surge. They needed it too, as they are sitting at the bottom of the standings, a game ahead of Telluride with the last place team denied a spot in the post-season.
The first game against Durango opened like a nightmare as the Wolfpack fell behind 2-0. But, the Wolfpack battled back to tie it up as Max Molitor scored on a power play in the twelfth minute of the first period and Sam Evans scored in the final 15 seconds to tie it up 2-2 heading into the second period.
Durango responded in the second period with two more goals to take a 4-2 lead into the third period. Troy Pike offered hope of a comeback in the fifth minute of the third period scoring to pull the Wolfpack back within one, but Durango sealed the win with the final two strikes of the game to skate to a 6-3 win.
It was the same old stuff, different game in the second match-up between Durango and Crested Butte that evening.
Again Durango took a 2-0 lead in the first period with the goals waking up the Wolfpack for some of their strongest hockey I’ve yet to witness.
Everyone was hustling as the Wolfpack took control of the game.
They pulled together a solid power play to fire shots on the Durango net but still couldn’t push the puck through.
Evans finally found a seam taking a pass up ice from Jake Sunter and squirting through two Durango defenders to slip a backhand through and cut the Durango lead down to one by the end of the first period.
But the rally was brief as Durango put together another strong second period scoring three goals and then cruised through a scoreless and sloppy third period to finish off the Wolfpack 5-1.
Coach Rob Bramwell described the effort of his team as “lazy,” pointing out that even with a playoff position on the line, the team couldn’t rally for one win.
“They were two very important games for us and we needed to win at least one,” says Bramwell. “I thought it was pretty bad both games.”
The Wolfpack closes the regular season with two games in Telluride on Saturday, February 13 and Bramwell has one goal in mind for his team.
“I want to see the stuff that we work on every single night in practice to translate into a game,” says Bramwell. “We need to win one game to make it to the playoffs.”