The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Win or lose, we’re still going to the Eldo”
While it’s early in the season, one thing is for sure, it’s going to be a battle for the 2012 Town League hockey title. There’s so much talent on the ice right now that when all is said and done, it may come down to the play of the level one (the lowest ranking for ability) players to determine the outcome.
Wednesday night, last year’s champions, the Eldo, faced rookie franchise Rocky Mountain Trees, aka the coaches’ team. Rocky Mountain Trees dropped their first two games of the season and were looking for redemption against the Eldo.
The Eldo team was handed a blow last week when standout veteran defenseman Bob Piccaro suffered a season-ending knee injury while skiing. Piccaro’s presence on the ice is somewhat integral to his team’s success, but all is not lost without him out there because he is almost equally effective on the bench, barking out support and fine-tuning the team with coaching points.
Rocky Mountain Trees came out hot, pressuring the Eldo in their own zone and holding the puck to set up numerous shots on net. Being a goalie is as much a mind game as it is a physical one, and Eldo net minder Guy Ciulla did some off-season work on both with an extensive yoga training regimen. It appears to have worked, as Ciulla kept his team in the game during the initial Rocky Mountain rush with several big saves of all varieties.
Rocky all-stars Willy Miller and Matt Whiting put together a two-man rush late in the period to break the scoreless tie, but when Whiting slipped in for the easy stuff, Eldo defense woman Mayme Grant broke it up with a quick poke check and the teams remained locked in a 0-0 tie.
Whiting and Miller finally connected midway through the second period to take a 1-0 lead and Tony Lambert followed another Whiting one-man rush to score on a rebound for a 2-0 Rocky Mountain Trees lead at the end of the second period.
Whiting struck one more time for a 3-0 lead but Piccaro was convinced his team would come back and fired the Eldo up for the final nine minutes of play.
The team responded as Matt Cahir dropped the puck to Paul O’Connor at the point and O’Connor cranked a low slapshot through traffic just inside the near post.
O’Connor then assisted Adam “Jack” Ofsterdahl on a second Eldo goal to pull within one, but time ran out on the Eldo comeback and Rocky Mountain Trees notched its first win of the season.
Despite the tough loss, an Eldo player put it all in perspective, saying, “Win or lose, we’re still going to the Eldo.”
