CB Storm defends Southwest Cup

“We didn’t want to lose that cup”

Years ago, the late, great Andy Bamberg designed and welded the Southwest Cup hockey trophy, also known as the Chalice.
Welded to the cup is a plate upon which the words Holy Grail are plasma-cut. It’s an important piece of hockey hardware. Fittingly, the main body of the Chalice is a large ice bucket from which many hockey players have drunk the spoils of their victory.
One member of the Crested Butte Storm hockey team, Paul O’Connor, has done so since the Chalice was first created and the Chalice holds a special place among the Storm players.
“It might be a hunk of metal to somebody but we sure have fun with it,” says O’Connor.
The Chalice has been around the state as teams from Durango, Telluride and Gunnison have won the Southwest Cup. But three years ago, the same year as Andy’s passing, the Storm were determined to win it back.
They did so and repeated again last year to keep the Chalice in Crested Butte.
Once again, the keepers of the Chalice had a job to do as the Storm faced squads from Telluride, Gunnison and an upstart Crested Butte team, the Dizzy Llamas, this past weekend in the 2012 Southwest Cup hockey tournament.
It was a somewhat prestigious affair in that for the first time in some years, Crested Butte would play host to the Southwest Cup thanks to the new roof.
Once again the Storm put together an incredible mix, pulling in a host of talent both young and old. The only missing piece was veteran defenseman Bob Piccaro, sidelined with a knee injury.
“We’ve had a lot of good players come and go but we’ve got a really good core of players,” says O’Connor. “We definitely missed Bob.”
The Storm got a scare early Saturday morning, falling behind 2-0 by the end of the first period to Gunnison’s own BM Mackinaw.
“They came to play,” says O’Connor.
Cooler heads prevailed though, and the Storm climbed back into the game to take a 3-2 lead. Willy Miller then picked the upper corner late in the game to ice the 4-2 Storm win.
The Storm finished Saturday with a rout over their cross-town rivals the Dizzy Llamas, to come into Sunday with a perfect 2-0 record.
Sunday was a testament to scoring power of the Storm and the comeback capabilities of the Dizzy Llamas. After losing both games on Saturday, and their first game on Sunday, the Llamas won their final game to take third place in the tournament.
In addition, they provided the highlight of the weekend Sunday morning. Llama player Joseph Hillum, picked up out of Vail, flicked a clearing backhand from the red line into the rafters that fell directly behind the opponent’s goalie and into the net.
Meanwhile, the Storm took it to the Telluride Lizard Heads in their first meeting of the day. Despite Telluride’s physical play, the Storm remained focused and fired off five goals for the 5-1 win.
The win set up a rematch between Telluride and the Storm in the finals.
This time, Telluride’s speed did the talking early on, opening up opportunities on net. Mike Potts came up with a couple of big saves to hold off the Lizard Head attack before the Storm managed to find a seam in the neutral zone for the first goal of the game. As O’Connor carried the puck up ice, Brian Murphy charged down the middle to take the pass and blast a quick slap shot past Telluride’s goalie.
Telluride tied it up in the final minute of the first period but the Storm responded in the third minute of the second when Deuce Wynne stuffed the puck top shelf from the high slot.
The NoDak line of Mike Lauerman, Joe Erickson and adopted Minnesotan Adam Jack Ofsterdahl put the Storm up 3-1 when Lauerman fed Erickson in the slot to build a two-goal advantage.
Telluride came back to score to hold the Storm in check heading into the third and final period.
Some discussion among the Storm team during the break reminded them what being in the finals was all about.
“Telluride came out skating really hard and had us worried,” says O’Connor. “We decided to have some fun.”
The shift in attitude made all the difference as the Storm fired off six goals in the third period.
Murphy completed his hat trick, Sean Norton skated around two players to find the net, Mike O’Laughlin fired a “laser” from the blue line to light the lamp and Ofsterdahl, defenseman turned center, found the back of the net twice for the 9-3 Storm win and 2012 Southwest Cup title.
“Everybody contributed—it was a great team effort,” says O’Connor. “We didn’t want to lose that cup.”