The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Big Mine Ice Arena is open
It’s repetitive, I know, but it’s true. Lack of ice time once again proved to be the death knell for the Crested Butte Wolfpack losing to down valley rival the Gunnison Blades 7-3 on Wednesday, December 22.
Not to take anything from the Blades. Coach Trevor Smith has made the most of their ice time in their indoor facility, and it shows every time they take the ice, and is a big reason why they are on top in the league standings with a record of 4-0.
The Wolfpack got a glimpse of the Blades’ style a week-and-a-half earlier, losing to them 4-0 in the Drop the Puck tournament.
Since that game, coaches John Mortell, Sean Kelly and Bill Frame worked with the team on how best to defend the Blades’ play using what was available.
“We explained on a erase board what Gunnison does and how we can defend and walked through it with them on a gym floor,” says Mortell.
Nevertheless, you can only do so much to prepare for the Blades attack and it was full on through the first period.
The Blades capitalized on a Wolfpack miscue to score early, when Mike Spallone took the puck behind the Wolfpack net and fed Taran Reinecke in front for the shot and a 1-0 lead.
The Wolfpack responded a minute later as the first line executed a near perfect breakout to set up Sam Evans with a clean lane to net. Evans’ shot was stuffed but the puck bounced right to Ben Reaman following on the play, and Reaman slipped the puck near post to tie the game 1-1.
The Blades then took complete control of the game scoring the next three goals.
Gunnison won a face off in the Wolfpack zone and dropped the puck to Evan Ayers who blasted a shot by goalie Nicholas Mikeska to take a 2-1 Blades’ lead.
Four minutes later Kalae Miller scored and the Blades were poised to destroy the Wolfpack with a 3-1 lead and a two-man advantage.
The Wolfpack defense clamped down to kill a total of four consecutive minutes of penalty but Brandon Roedder stuffed the puck top shelf in the final two minutes of the first period to give Gunnison a 4-1 lead.
Miller scored his second goal of the game and Spallone scored two of his own in the second period to put the Blades up 7-1 heading into the third period.
The coaches pulled Mikeska from the net and put in Montana Wiggins for the third period, and after a brief pep talk, the Wolfpack came out rejuvenated for the final 13 minutes.
They won the opening face off and Max Molitor took the puck straight to net to score. Midway through the third period, Evans poked in a loose puck and the game was out of reach as the Blades finished with the 7-3 win.
“They came out slow and got down on themselves but we talked them out of it and they motivated for that third period,” says Mortell. “All in all, we definitely left that game on a positive.”
Thanks to the diligent work of the Crested Butte Parks and Rec crew and Icestro Pete Curvin, Big Mine Ice Arena is now up and operational and Mortell and the team will begin their regular practice schedule this week. Their next games will be on the road January 8 and 9 against Kremmling and Steamboat Springs.
Their first home games at Big Mine Ice Arena will be on January 22.
