The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Face Gunnison this Friday
There are no signs of the Crested Butte Wolfpack slowing down as they dominated league opponents Moffat County and Durango/Telluride last weekend at Big Mine Ice Arena to maintain a perfect record of 13-0 in the Rocky Mountain Youth Hockey League.
So far this season they’ve rattled off 78 goals with just 13 scored against them. Four of the top five league scoring leaders are Wolfpack players, led by Ben Reaman. Wolfpack goalie Montana Wiggins is the top-rated goalie.
Moffat County is having a tough season so far so the two wins over them were expected, but anything can happen on game day.
The Wolfpack opened the first game Saturday, January 28 making sure “anything” wouldn’t happen as Ian Dethloff scored two minutes into the first period. Dylan Curtiss put the pack up 2-0 by the end of the first period and Ben and Sam Reaman and Peter Bright each tacked on a goal in the second period for a 5-0 Wolfpack lead. Curtiss netted his second goal of the game in the third period to go up 6-0 and Wiggins and the Wolfpack defense sealed their fourth shutout of the season.
The Wolfpack buried Moffat County in their second meeting of the weekend on Sunday, shelling them for eight goals on 49 shots.
“We just try to get them to work on our game regardless of the competition,” says coach Sean Kelly, “work on the things that we will need when we face better teams. We also want them to try to be a little more creative because the consequences are potentially not as big.”
Ben led all scorers with two goals and two assists. Sam added two more goals and Dethloff, Danny D’Aquila, Isaac Evans and Ian Kelly netted one each.
The biggest test for the Wolfpack was to come Saturday night as they faced Durango/Telluride. The last time the two teams met, the Wolfpack battled back to win 5-4.
This time around the game started much the same, whereby the Wolfpack looked flat after such an easy win earlier that day. Fortunately for Crested Butte, so did Durango/Telluride.
Durango/Telluride had an opportunity to take an early lead. playing two men up on the Wolfpack, but the Wolfpack penalty kill did the job, backed by some big saves from Wiggins.
Crested Butte put together a brief surge midway through the first period but could not convert, and an overall lackluster first period ended with the teams locked in a scoreless tie.
“The good thing about this team is that when they’re down they respond,” says Kelly. “It came from within, with the leaders Ben, Collin and Ian bringing the team together.”
It was soon evident that the game would come down to a matter of which team wanted it more. In the first two minutes of the second period, the Wolfpack did, as Dethloff battled for the puck behind Durango/Telluride’s net and found Collin Dill all alone on the weak side. Dill made it count, picking the upper corner before the Durango/Telluride goalie could shift for a 1-0 Wolfpack lead.
“Getting on the scoreboard first is big,” says Kelly. “Loaf [Dethloff] played hard in the corner, took a couple big hits and found the cutter. That was rewarding as a coach because that’s what we’ve been telling them to do.”
The Wolfpack capitalized on a power play two minutes later when Ben broke free in the neutral zone for a clear lane to net. Ben made his move and shot off the pipe but Dill followed the play to stuff the rebound for a 2-0 Crested Butte lead.
Five minutes into the third period the two teams traded penalties, leaving the ice wide open for a game of four-on-four. Ben can capitalize in these situations and he did, finding another open lane to net. The Durango/Telluride goalie made the initial save but Dill was there once again and buried the rebound for the hat trick and a 3-0 lead, no doubt making his grandmother, who was visiting from Florida and at the game, very proud.
Durango/Telluride responded less than a minute later to cut the Wolfpack lead back down to two but Crested Butte picked up the pace for the final minutes of the game to seal the 3-1 win.
The Wolfpack returns to action this Friday, February 3 as they head south to face the Gunnison Blades.
“I thought Durango was a quality win but it’s a full step up to play Gunnison,” says Kelly. “The guys realize that if they are disciplined they can be right in the game.”
The puck drops at 8 p.m.
