The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Night raises $850
Sure, $850 is a drop in the bucket when considering the money needed in local fundraising to put a roof over Big Mine Ice Arena, but at least it’s a start.
More important than the money, though, was the coming together of two old foes for one great reason.
Saturday night, former local men’s hockey league arch-rivals the Crested Butte Pigs and the Crested Butte Storm faced off for the first time in years at Big Mine Ice Arena, unofficially kicking off the local fundraising effort to put a roof over Big Mine Ice Arena.
The rivalry reached an all-time low in the early part of this decade as games often disintegrated into blowouts and bitch sessions.
But that was then and this is now and time appears to have healed all wounds.
Saturday night was a who’s who of local hockey greats spanning the history of the two teams. Former Pig, one of the original Pigs, Dan Law was there cranking out some coaching for his team. Another Pigs original, Jack Gibbons, laced them up. Brad Crosby, the original Pigs netminder who used ¾” carpet padding for chest pads, donned the stripes to help ref with Dave McGuire. Even Hank Ebbott, who helped anchor the Pigs through the rough times with outstanding goaltending, was back in net, in his Pigs jersey, for the first time in six years.
The first step toward their reconciliation was picking teams.
Storm captain Paul O’Connor and Pigs captain Alyosha Paden stood in front of the two teams and traded off picking players from either team and when it came down to it, the two teams traded off only a handful of players.
And while the bigger picture was fundraising, the apprehension was palpable watching a Pig player put on a Storm jersey and vice versa once the teams were picked.
Nevertheless, the puck was dropped and the throngs of fans on hand were treated to three periods of highlight-worthy hockey.
The Storm came out fast and furious, pressing the action into the Pigs zone in the opening minutes and peppering Ebbott with shots. Ebbott proved that having three kids, including a set of twins, since he last played has only honed his hand-eye coordination as he made a series of early saves to hold off the Storm surge.
Once the Pigs worked out their lines, they countered by scoring three straight goals. The first came when Bob Piccaro found Paden charging in off the point with a pass and Paden slipped it past Potts.
Soon after, Storm turned Pig player Mike Lauerman put the Pigs up 2-0 driving a slapshot past Potts and then fed Tom Collins for a goal to give the Pigs a 3-0 lead midway through the first period.
With the Pigs’ hunger gaining with each goal, the Storm managed to capitalize as the Pigs defense was caught cheating in off the blue line giving Brian Murphy and Paul O’Connor a clear line to the Pigs’ net together.
Murphy shot first and Ebbott denied but O’Connor was there to clean up, scoring on the rebound.
But before the first period came to a close, Mike O’Laughlin avenged a couple of earlier saves by Potts. While Potts denied O’Laughlin twice that period, O’Laughlin made sure the third time was the charm, drifting across the top of the face-off circle with the puck before picking the lower corner clean through traffic for a 4-1 Pigs lead.
Murphy found O’Connor early in the second period for the Storm’s second goal but continued outstanding net minding by Ebbott held off any shot at a Storm comeback.
The goal of the night came 11 minutes into the second period as O’Laughlin carried the puck through the high slot drawing two Storm defenders. Adam Ofsterdahl saw the slot open up like the Red Sea and charged in off the blue line to receive a no look backhand pass from O’Laughlin and slip the puck past Potts for a 5-2 Pigs lead.
The Storm rallied midway through the third period to cut the Pigs’ lead down to one when Willy Miller scored back-to-back goals off assists from Sean Norton and O’Connor.
The Pigs’ insurance goal came with two minutes left to play. After Potts pulled off a series of big saves to hold the Pigs’ lead to one, Lauerman finally punched the puck through for a 6-4 lead.
The Storm pulled Potts in the final minute for one last attack but Pigs original Gibbons had the final say. After getting dropped by a shot to his groin earlier in the game, garnering the nickname Ironballs, Gibbons returned to the ice and poked the puck off a Storm player’s stick and ahead to Collins. Collins skated free to the Storm goal and pushed the puck into the open net to seal the 7-4 Pigs win.
