The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Hot goalies spell success in post-season play
Thursday night, the Last Steep proved they’re in the running for the title, with a couple of stand-out players, some quality mid-range players, an organized attack and, most important, lights-out goaltender Zach Vaughter. Oh, and Mike Neustedter, who is a helluva softball player. As for hockey, not his strongest sport, but while he appears somewhat shaky on his skates, he creates havoc in the neutral zone and on offense and can produce at the most critical time.
As anyone knows, one of the major keys to post-season success lies heavily on the shoulders of the netminder. When he’s on, the team is on. When he’s off, the team falls apart.
Thursday night, Vaughter was on as the Last Steep skated to a 2-0 win over the Lightning.
It also helped that the Last Steep has developed into a well-organized team on both defense and offense with hustle and position play at both ends of the ice matched by scrappy play in the neutral zone to pick up loose pucks.
Both teams were on fire for the opening five minutes of play, trading off rushes on the net. The Last Steep had a golden opportunity early on with a three-on-two attack and a feed to the high slot but Chuck McKenrick managed to break up the play with a huge back check to deny the shot.
Two minutes later the Last Steep was back at it as a pass across the slot found Grant Breeden all alone on the weak side but Lightning goaltender Montana Wiggins shifted to stuff Breeden.
Isaac Long spent a majority of the first period circling and threatening for the Lightning. Eight minutes in he picked off a clearing pass with his hand to drop the puck to his stick for a clear look at the Last Steep net, but Vaughter denied with a brilliant glove save.
The Last Steep won the ensuing face-off in their zone and cleared the puck of their zone. As the Lightning looked to regroup and organize their attack back up ice, Tom Consentino picked off a breakout pass at the blue line to fire a shot on the Lightning net. Wiggins made the initial save but Michael Stowe was in perfect position for the rebound and stuffed it through Wiggins for a 1-0 Last Steep lead.
The Lightning opened the second period with a powerplay and while their special teams are just that, “special,” the initial advantage developed into a Lightning surge. They had the Last Steep pinned for the first half of the second period, firing shots on the Steep net but Vaughter, as I said, was lights-out that evening and the Last Steep defense was organized and positioned to deny any second looks off rebounds.
Having survived a number of Lightning strikes, the Last Steep slowly skated back into control of the game but Wiggins matched Vaughter save-for-save, breathing additional life into the Lightning attack. Michael Fabbre did what he could to find seams in the Last Steep and Greg Hull’s effort further spurned the Lightning through the rest of the second period.
The Last Steep added to their tenuous one-goal lead early in the third period as Ian Havlick pulled off one of the most unique one-on-one moves ever witnessed.
With the Lightning pressing, the Last Steep cleared the puck up the boards and Havlick jumped on the opportunity to break free in the neutral zone. As Havlick skated to net, he dropped to his ass (on purpose of course), stalling the Lightning defense in pursuit, then kept the puck in front of him with a swipe of the stick and jumped back onto his skates to shoot, picking the upper 90 for a 2-0 Last Steep lead.
With a trip to the loser’s bracket on the line, the Lightning continued to press, but Vaughter continued his mastery in net the rest of the third period to preserve the 2-0 shutout win.
The entire town league hockey season comes to a close next week with the Toilet Bowl on Thursday, March 13 at 9 p.m. and the championship game on Friday, March 14 at 9 p.m.
