Wolfpack take two from Telluride

Draw against Durango

Following a thrilling 5-4 win over the Gunnison Blades last week, the Crested Butte Wolfpack hockey team stomped their way through Telluride on Saturday, January 29, outscoring the Telluride Lizard Heads 18-3 to post back-to-back wins.
The Wolfpack winning streak came to a brief stop the following day in Durango as the two teams played to two draws, leaving the Wolfpack with a 6-1-5 record.
Telluride is struggling this year and the Wolfpack made the most of it, opening the two-game showdown with a 6-1 win.
Goals from Colin Dill and Sam Evans gave the Wolfpack a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period. Dylan Curtiss netted two in the second period and Ben Reaman and Evans added one more each in the third period for the 6-1 Wolfpack win.
The two teams met again later that day and Crested Butte skated through the Lizard Heads enroute to a 12-2 drubbing.
Six different Wolfpack players scored two goals each, including two from defenseman Ben Frame and two more from Curtiss, bringing his grand total to four goals on the day.
“The kids just played awesome,” says coach John Mortell. “Very offensive-minded.”
The Wolfpack then rolled into Durango on Sunday, January 30 for two games against the Steamers, looking to extend their current winning streak.
The two teams already have a long history this season, having played each other three times in non-league action earlier this year.
“They’re a good team and have two great goaltenders,” says Mortell. “We knew what to expect.”
But Mortell and the team were thrown a couple of curveballs as injury and illness forced Evans and Curtiss to miss the first game.
“That was huge,” says Mortell.
That left Reaman to carry the load on the scoring end of things and he responded netting all three of the Wolfpack’s goals in the first game for his second hat trick in the past four games.
The Steamers took a 2-0 lead before Reaman brought the team back tying it up with two strikes.
Durango retook the lead 3-2 in the third period but with 50 seconds left, Reaman took the puck coast-to-coast to net the game-tying goal, saving the tie for Crested Butte.
In the second game, Durango’s goalie stood on his head in net as the Wolfpack peppered the cage for a total of 37 shots.
Durango took a 1-0 lead on a goal in the opening minute of play and looked to hold on, riding the outstanding play of their goalie.
But Crested Butte came back in the second period when Ben Frame capitalized on a line change to break free into Durango’s zone. Jake Grogg led him with a pass and as the Durango goalie came off his line to play the puck, Frame stretched to tip it past him and then slid the puck into the empty net for a 1-1 tie.
Crested Butte continued to dominate play through the third period but just couldn’t find the back of the net and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
“Whenever we were on a power play they couldn’t even touch us—we just could not score,” says Mortell. “It was just a battle. I think this is the best hockey this team has played in the past couple of years.”
The Wolfpack returns to the Gunnison Valley this weekend with four games in Gunnison. It all starts Friday, February 4 at 8 p.m. with a rematch against the Gunnison Blades.
They face Moffat County on Saturday, February 5 at 2 p.m. and close the weekend on Sunday with games against Moffat County at 11 a.m. and Gunnison at 2 p.m.