Last Steep skates to win in town league with just five players

Maybe less is more

You’d think that having 12 skaters to your opponent’s five would result in a serious advantage and ultimately a win.
You’d think.
But you’d be wrong, at least in the case of town league hockey and, specifically, in the case of High Country Capital Management (HCCM).
HCCM was coming into their game last Thursday hot off a big win, their first win, against the Talk of the Town. Furthermore, their opponent, the Last Steep, showed up Thursday with a roster depleted by the Leftover Salmon concert, among other things. So depleted, in fact, that they had just five players and a goalie on hand for the game.
Due to a uniform color issue, both teams’ jerseys are green, HCCM agreed to go with white, prompting a multitude of uniform choices. Not sure whose was the nicest but I have to give props out to James Brennan’s Latvian uniform in addition to Frank Konsella’s Black Whale jersey. Remember the Black Whale? It was after the Face Plant Saloon but before the Lobar.
Nevertheless, we’re not here to talk about uniforms, we’re here to talk about hockey. Thus, in addition to myriad uniforms worn by HCCM, they brought a heap of enthusiasm for the game Thursday night. And by a heap I mean a modicum. And by a modicum, I mean minimal. Which is strange because Brennan, Eric Dishmon and Tim Clark are nothing if not passionate about hockey.
Perhaps they need more twizzle. That’s right, there’s a term in ice dancing called twizzle. And while I still chuckle at the thought of ice dancing, if it weren’t for ice dancing, USA wouldn’t have a gold medal keeping us in the hunt for the overall medal count lead.
C’mon Aaron and David!
At any rate, the Last Steep, despite their limited numbers, pretty much dominated play all three periods, starting off in the second minute of the game when Willy “White Gloves” Coburn skated coast-to-coast to score and put the Steep up 1-0.
Fifteen seconds later Jeff Kother ripped a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that beat Issac Long top shelf and the Last Steep was sitting on a 2-0 lead.
At some point though, fresh legs have got to take over the game as HCCM had plenty of players to throw at the Last Steep. And not just any players, but they got some decent talent on their team.
Mayhem ensued and while the Last Steep did a good job of conserving energy, HCCM did turn up the pressure. By the end of the first period, HCCM had turned the momentum in their favor and scored when a shot from Dishmon through traffic hit off a player and squirted through.
HCCM had a number of opportunities to find the equalizer throughout the second period but rarely tested Steep goalie Zach Vaughter. When they did get shots off, Vaughter was there for the save and the Last Steep added to their lead when Mike Neustedter broke free to beat Long one-on-one for a 3-1 Last Steep lead.
The Steep threatened to tack on another goal when Coburn skated to net with one player to beat, but HCCM defensewoman Geza Michel broke it up to keep HCCM in the hunt.
While it seemed like just a matter of time before the Last Steep legs would give way, it never happened, as HCCM remained confused and ineffective with the puck.
Even Long did what he could in net to help out fallin’ and sprawlin’ for saves to deny the Last Steep but the final blow came with four minutes left in regulation.
As HCCM pressed in an effort to break the Last Steep, all they did was bend and snap back as Coburn found HCCM out of position and skated the length of the ice to score for a 4-1 lead.
The Last Steep added a little salt to the gaping wound when Neustedter scored with one second left to finish off the 5-1 Last Steep win.
The town league regular season wraps up this week with the final game on Friday, February 21 and the playoffs kicking off next week.