The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Pete feeds Patrick for first father/son town league goal ever
Well, town league hockey is back for another tremendous season of the greatest free entertainment in town.
Sure, it’s been somewhat watered down over the past few years to protect those who don’t know any better out there, but it’s still quality entertainment.
Several years ago, after numerous career-suspending and ski season-ending injuries, it was deemed that checking would no longer be tolerated.
Since then other tweaks and adjustments have been made to further ensure the safety of the unsure.
This season marks the latest big change to town league hockey: no slapshots.
That’s right, the Holy Smoke is now an e-cigarette.
And while some fans have expressed their disdain for the new rule, my guess is some players are probably okay with it. Actually, probably not, but nevertheless that’s the rule and if you’ve ever seen someone with a crushed larynx, it ain’t pretty and that’s pretty much what will happen when one of those “never-evers” or rarely-evers is doing all he or she can to stand upright in the slot on defense only to take a slapshot from the point square in the throat.
Best to not wait for that to happen to make the rule.
That said, the 2014 season opened up Friday, January 3 at Big Mine Ice Arena as the Last Steep faced the Wine House.
Neither franchise, as far as I can recall, has seen much success on the ice in town league, but they have revamped their rosters to a certain extent to hopefully turn the tides and be “that team” this year.
Both squads picked up a couple of quality FNGs in the draft as well as a couple of tested veterans, and both have top goaltenders—though, by the final horn, it appears the Wine House’s management may have done a slightly better job of rebuilding their team.
The Wine House pinned the Last Steep in their defensive zone for the majority of the first period. Wine House goalie Zach Vaughter came up with a couple of big saves early but the Wine House cracked the seal three minutes into the game when Emily Littwin scored off an assist from Tim Haren for a 1-0 Wine House lead.
The Wine House proceeded to set up shop, holding strong at the blue line and feeding the beast. The Last Steep hung in there with Vaughter continuing his effort in net and the Last Steep got a break midway through the first with a powerplay opportunity.
Unfortunately, the Steep’s confusion continued in the man-up situation and was further exacerbated by the efforts of Wine House one-man penalty killer Drew Holbrook.
Standing 6’5” on skates with the lungs of a former competitive Nordic ski racer, Holbrook singlehandedly killed off the penalty with his efforts in neutral ice.
The Wine House continued their domination of the first period, adding a second goal nine minutes into the game when Travis Phillips weaved his way up ice, drew a couple of Steep defenders and fed Haren in the high slot for the goal and a 2-0 lead.
The Last Steep recovered in the second period with a little more organization and fueled by the efforts of Willy Coburn and Ian Havlick. They started pressing hard in the opening minutes of the second period and fired a few shots off but all were turned away by Wine House netminder Zach vanDyke.
The early effort ultimately drained the Steep and the Wine House countered as Jeff Duke fired a shot on net and Jeff Snyder followed to stuff the rebound home for a 3-0 lead.
After trading off a couple of odd man rushes, the Wine House found themselves skating up-ice with a four-on-one. Steep defender Lily Dorris did what she could do to try to hold them off, sliding over to shut down Fred Sproat but Sproat cut back and found Duke open in the slot for the fourth Wine House goal.
Despite the four-goal deficit, the Steep actually improved over the course of the game and started rattling the Wine House cage. VanDyke was spot-on in net to hold off the succession of shots and the Wine House countered again midway through the third period. Outstanding hustle from Tricia Kubisiak kept the puck alive for the Wine House inside the blue line and Holbrook capitalized, taking the loose puck to net and stuffing it top shelf.
Phillips and Haren connected once more late in the third period to put the Wine House up 6-0 and vanDyke sealed the shutout with a couple of big saves down the stretch.
Town league hockey continues through January and February with games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights at Big Mine Ice Arena.
