Storm defends Southwest Cup hockey title in Gunni

Takes down Durango
in finals

With a potent mix of Pigs, Storm, Gunnison and Nodak players, plus the return of Matt Whiting off the injured reserve, the Crested Butte Storm men’s hockey team defended their Southwest Cup title last weekend keeping the chalice safe in the Gunnison Valley.
The team was missing one of its heavy hitters in Paul O’Connor but filled the gap with defenseman Alyosha Paden from the Pigs roster.
“We had to fortify the ranks a little bit with some bacon,” says Storm player Sean Norton.
It was a dubious start to the weekend of hockey for the Storm taking the ice on Saturday morning against B.M. Mackinow, a talented crew out of Gunnison.
The Storm came out flying, firing off shots. Mike O’Laughlin opened the scoring putting the Storm up 1-0 midway through the first period. Deuce Wynes netted two more and the Storm was sitting on a comfortable 3-0 lead at the end of one period of play.
Mike Stanley put B.M. Mackinow on the scoreboard to cut the lead to two but the Storm responded with a goal by Whiting for a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead.
But the wheels fell off as the Storm looked to cruise through the rest of the game with a three-goal lead.
Mackinow came charging back fueled by outstanding goalkeeping from their mystery netminder found on a recruiting run through Wisconsin. Mackinow scored one more in the second period and then three goals in the third to pull off a 5-4 comeback win.
“We thought we were done for the weekend,” says Norton.
It only got worse for the Storm as they faced Southwest Cup rival Durango later that day.
The first period was wide-open hockey as the teams traded off goals all period long. Tom Collins, Bob Piccaro and Joe Erickson scored for the Storm in the opening period of play but Durango answered with four of their own to take a 5-4 lead into the second period.
Durango added two more in the second period to build a 7-4 lead heading into the third period.
Staring in the face of probable elimination from the tournament, the Storm rallied in the final period on the shoulders of Whiting. Whiting scored 18 seconds into the period, won the ensuing face off and scored again to pull the Storm back within one with plenty of time left in regulation.
The Storm then unleashed upon Durango with near biblical fury as Mike Lauerman, Brian Murphy and O’Laughlin joined in with a goal apiece and Whiting completed the hat trick for a 10-7 Storm win.
“That changed the whole tournament,” says Norton.
The Storm faced Telluride Sunday morning on the outdoor rink with a birth to the Southwest Cup finals on the line.
Warm temperatures made for sloppy ice and, ultimately, sloppy hockey but the Storm did what needed to be done.
They built an early 3-0 lead in the first period and just as Telluride was mounting a comeback, Willy Miller slammed the door shut, scoring an insurance goal in the seventh minute of the third period.
Mike “Potts” Morgan sealed the win in net as the Storm sloshed its way to a 4-2 win. Their future still hung in the balance with three teams notched in a three-way tie. Officials crunched the numbers and it came down to goals against to break the tie among three teams and the Storm earned a trip to the Southwest Cup finals to defend their title and face Durango once again.
The two teams were deadlocked in a 1-1 tie after the first period but goals from Lauerman, Miller and a key strike by Kyle Tetu led the Storm to a 4-2 lead at the end of two periods of play.
Durango netted one more in the third period by the Storm was unstoppable and Tetu sealed the 6-3 Storm win with an empty net goal for the Storm’s second Southwest Cup title in a row.