The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Michael Blunck, two goals, two assists
The Brick Oven runs a tight ship—always has in their town league hockey endeavors. That may be why they are the defending town league champions.
They got rattled earlier this season losing to the Eldo in the second week of the season but have been surging ever since, rattling off four wins in a row including last night’s win over Mikey’s Pizza. The Brick Oven remains in second place in the league with one loss, along with several other teams, all sitting behind undefeated Dragon Sheet Metal.
Mikey’s Pizza is the antithesis of the Brick Oven. I would not describe their team as a tight ship, nor are they a ship of fools. Rather, I see Mikey’s Pizza as some sort of band of pirates causing havoc on the open seas of town league hockey and never one to back down from an epic battle.
Why the nautical allegory? No idea. Maybe the result of Tylenol PM coursing through my veins.
Nevertheless, Mikey’s Pizza brings chaos to the ice and their efforts disrupted the Brick’s mojo for most of the game.
The Brick opened the game fully intact of the pace and play with fundamental positioning and pinpoint passing (that’s alliteration, y’all).
Their effort paid off when Kent Preston skated in off the blue line to pick up a loose puck and slip it back into the slot to Dodson Harper. Harper shot, Andrew Winogradow made the initial save but Dodson followed to swat the rebound through for a 1-0 Brick Oven lead.
But Mikey’s efforts and broken play hockey started to rattle the Brick Oven foundation of fundamental hockey.
Mikey’s got their first break when Paul Moscatelli scooped up a loose puck in neutral ice while the Brick was in the midst of a line change. Moscatelli took one look to find the Brick defense in disarray and pounced, skating to the net and scoring to tie the game 1-1.
The Brick responded at the end of the first period amidst all the mayhem, proving they’ve got some tricks up their sleeves as well. Pressure in neutral ice forced a turnover and Harper found Michael Blunck breaking free behind the Mikey’s defense. Blunck took three strides to net to stuff the puck over the goalie’s shoulder for a 2-1 Brick lead.
Mikey’s opened the second period with continued chaos and seized on it when Mike Wright assisted on Moscatelli’s second goal of the game. Mikey’s Pizza then killed a 5 on 3 situation toward the end of the second period and looked to build on the momentum of the penalty kill in the third, but cooler heads prevailed.
Despite the efforts of every single hard-skating Mikey’s Pizza player, the Brick Oven matched the effort and then some.
The Brick Oven took control of the game in the opening minutes of the third period, returning to their cool, calculated and cohesive style.
Blunck scored his second goal of the game off an assist from Deuce Wynne to give the lead back to the Brick with eight minutes left to play.
Mikey’s Pizza would not give up though, and their hard-charging efforts opened up a couple more opportunities down the stretch but the Brick Oven held them off.
The Brick got a late insurance goal from Matt Gutter, assist to Blunck, and then stuck two more empty net goals in to finish off Mikey’s 6-2.
