The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Gettin’ housed
After dropping their first two games of the season, the Winehouse rebounded with a big 8-5 win over the Talk of the Town last week and followed up with a 2-1 upset over Dragon Sheet Metal on Tuesday night.
Dragon Sheet Metal is on the exact opposite trajectory. They won their first two games of the season causing a stir among the ranks as an up and coming rookie franchise.
Last week they battled hard against the Eldo falling short 3-2 and then dropped their second game in a row to the Winehouse.
Dragon took charge of the game early on led by local longhair and purported Greg Allman offspring John Baron; perhaps conceived right here in Crested Butte following the Allman Brothers concert at Rafters.
Baron was a force to be reckoned with as he skated the puck through the Winehouse seemingly at will. Dragon opened the scoring two minutes into the game when a back check from Mike Wright poked the puck loose in the neutral zone and Dragon turned it up ice. Rich Smith drew one defender and slid the puck to Pete Cook in the slot for the strike.
Before Dragon could get rolling though, the Winehouse defense locked down with Blake Claflin holding tight and the team staying disciplined.
Winehouser Isaac Long countered with a handful of one-man rushes on the Dragon net but Dragon goalie Matt Nilson proved his initial efforts were more than just flukes as he turned away each and every shot.
Cook slipped through two more times before the end of the period but Winehouse net minder Mike Potts turned him away on a one-on-one and Jan Blewett stopped another Cook rush with a pinpoint poke check.
After a flurry of activity in the Dragon zone the puck squirted out to Colby Deer at the point. Deer sent a wrist shot through the flesh mass in front of Nilson bound for the back of the net but Nilson got a read on it at the final moment and pulled it in with a last second glove save.
Scott Strouse and Milo Wynne broke free for a two-on-one midway through the second period looking to tie the game. Strouse flipped the puck over the defenders stick to Wynne’s backhand but Nilson stacked the pads to stuff Wynne’s attempt.
Wynne avenged Nilson’s effort a minute later taking a pass from Mark Sawyer and scoring, tying the game 1-1.
Baron broke loose for a blistering wrist shot bound for the upper 90 but Potts was on fire that evening and robbed Baron with a miraculous glove save to hold the 1-1 tie heading into the third period.
Potts came up with two more big saves at the start of the third period and the Winehouse rallied off the effort to put together some offense. The hustle paid off three minute into the third when Claflin slipped in off the point to beat Nilson with a backhand giving the Winehouse a 2-1 lead.
At this point all hell broke loose. While the Winehouse was starting to taste victory, Dragon Sheet Metal was panicked at the thought of losing. Both teams traded off odd man rushes and both Nilson and Potts stood on their heads in net to trade off saves. Winehouser Jack “Turner” Gibbons broke free and went old school with a one-handed bull dodge to net but Nilson pushed the puck clear.
Ten seconds later, Tom Consentino tried the same move through the meat of the Winehouse defense to get shot off but Potts denied the effort as well.
Dragon called a timeout and pulled the goalie in the waning moments off the game to pin the Winehouse in their zone. They pressed hard but couldn’t slip the puck through as Winehouse fought until the final tick for the 2-1 win.
