Town league hockey set to open January 6

Ambiguously Gay Duo breaks up

This may be the best adult town league hockey season of all time. Granted, I’ve said that before and the season has yet to start, but this time I mean it. Scrolling through the handwritten rosters from the town league draft, I can tell this season will be tops.
The annual draft night at the Brick Oven was a tremendous success as the team captains and draft directors Jack Gibbons and Lauren Alkire shared Labatt’s Blue and divided up the talent pool. Not only that, but the night also raised close to $500 for the West Elk Hockey Association (WEHA).
Things took an interesting turn in the final round of picks as teams raised money for WEHA, with the most money raised getting the first pick in the final round. The Brick raised the most that evening and decided to not pick a player in the final round so they could get more ice time.
Speaking of the Brick Oven, they have won the town league title four of the last five years and they’ll be the first to admit that a lot of that had to do with having Deuce Wynes on the ice. True, there was plenty of talent out there as well to help things along, but Deuce owned it.
This year, Deuce will be in net for the Brick Oven rather than actually skating out on the ice. Furthermore, a couple of the aforementioned other players from the Brick Oven are no longer on the Brick Oven. At least, one of them is not. It turns out that the Ambiguously Gay Duo has broken up. Dan Loftus will remain on the Brick Oven (he is the owner, after all) but Matt Gutter has moved to REG, aka Brick Oven Light.
Before I get into it any further, know this: One, they are not and were never “partners.” Two, even if they were, that would be okay. It was just an Al Johnson costume, one time, long ago.
Still, Brick Oven player/coach/manager Ben Preston is confident they should be in the mix again this season.
“It’s looking good,” says Preston. “We went with what’s been called Charlie’s Angels without women’s selections and we pulled out some sleepers that no one knew about.”
But looking at rosters, things are looking good for just about everyone.
REG (Brick Oven Light) has about as good of a roster as I can tell (which isn’t much) and Preston admits that’s been an issue for the Brick Oven as they look to continue their dynasty.
“It’s been hard to retain players ever since REG—Brick Oven Light that is—started,” says Preston.
For one, they’ve got Zach Van Dyke in net, one of the best goalies this town has seen since Jim Browder, who was and will always be the best goalie this town has ever seen.
The Last Steep, last year’s runner-up, looks pretty intact and back for more. Acme has the Dujardin brothers and perennial town league goaltending standout Shawn Harington. The Eldo has struggled the past couple of years after dominating in the mid 2000s, but they appear to have their core back intact. There are plenty of other bright spots on the other teams and a couple of high school players in the mix, so look for some fireworks from teams like John Williams Builders.
On the other end of the spectrum is HCCM. They’ve had a tough start to their franchise the past couple of seasons but that never stopped them in the past, and they’ve boosted their roster for the 2015 season.
In the end, nine teams are registered for town league this year with from 12 to 13 players per team. Alkire and Gibbons are working on the schedule this week and games will be held at Big Mine Ice Arena Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30 and 9 p.m. and on Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
And if you have a functional laptop computer sitting unused, please contact WEHA or Lauren Alkire, as they are looking for a laptop for scorekeeping at Big Mine Ice Arena. You can find complete town league rosters at crestedbuttenews.com.