B&B Printers take men’s Southwest Cup championship

Stanley family affair

Fueled by the recent storm cycle, and the addition of Joe Otsuka, the Crested Butte Storm men’s hockey team rallied to reach the Southwest Cup finals only to lose to Gunnison powerhouse B&B Printers in the championship game, falling shy of a repeat title.
It was sweet hometown family justice for B&B Printers with the Stanley family hockey lineage firmly in place. Jim Stanley was an integral part of the Gunnison men’s team back when the Southwest Cup started and was there to watch his two sons, Mike and Kevin, win the Southwest Cup as well. In addition, the team was a who’s who of former Gunnison Blades all stars and WSCU club team players bringing a fast and talented squad to the tournament.
B&B Printers set the tone in the opening game of the tournament on Friday, February 27, handing the defending champion Storm team a 6-1 drubbing. But the Storm is notorious for slow tournament starts and would gain steam as the weekend continued.
The Storm followed the harrowing loss by rattling off three wins in a row, scoring a total of 26 goals during the rally led by the scoring prowess of Otsuka and NoDak standout Mike Lauerman.
The Storm surge started off with a 12-4 crushing of Blue Mesa on Saturday afternoon and continued into Saturday night with a 7-2 drubbing of the Telluride Lizardheads to put the Storm back in contention with Durango standing between them and a return to the championship game.
Meanwhile, B&B Printers cooled off after their hot start with the schedule forcing them to play all four round robin games on Saturday. They dropped the next game to crosstown rivals Blue Mesa 7-5 but recovered to beat Telluride and then tied Durango Saturday night, amassing enough points to punch their ticket to the big show.
A chance to return to the finals and face B&B Printers almost got away from the Storm in their game against Durango Sunday morning.
After Mike O’Laughlin opened the scoring four minutes in off a pass from Jeff Black, the Storm started falling apart in the second period. Miscues at the blue line and turnovers in their own defensive zone would give up five goals to Durango.
Fortunately, Lauerman netted two goals for the Storm off assists from O’Laughlin and Otsuka to keep the game in range but Durango’s penchant for picking off clearing passes and an obvious fire in their belly continued into the third period.  
Durango exploited another Storm miscue to score and take a 6-3 lead with eight minutes left in the game. But, the Durango bench was short on players and the Storm started running short shifts in an attempt to drain Durango of their remaining energy.
The ploy paid off over the final seven minutes. Otsuka turned up ice when Durango was in the midst of a line change and picked the low corner to cut the lead to two goals. Two minutes later, the Storm passing attack had Durango spinning and Tom Collins fed Brandon “Lurch” Blomberg in the slot to pull within one.
Otsuka did it again, scoring while Durango was scrambling through a shift change and with three minutes left in the game, the two teams were notched in a 6-6 tie. Thirty seconds later, Steve Kay found Lurch alone cross-ice with a pass and Lurch crossed into the Durango zone before shutting it down and then firing a wrist shot past the Durango goalie for a 7-6 Storm lead.
Durango came desperately close to tying it back up with 30 seconds left in the game, breaking free for a two-on-one assault on the Storm net. Mike Potts made the initial save but the puck trickled behind him and was teetering on the goal line before O’Laughlin swatted it clear, preserving the 7-6 win and earning the Storm a spot in the Southwest Cup finals.
The good news about the Storm and B&B Printers in the finals was that the coveted Southwest Cup chalice, created by Andy Bamberg, was going to stay in the valley. The only question was, at what end of the valley?
The Storm lost Potts to injury for the finals and called upon Jordan Schwartz to step in net and the Storm matched B&B’s pace stride for stride. The two teams traded off attacks through a scoreless first period as both Schwartz and Kevin Stanley came up big in net.
After coming up empty on a handful of power plays, the Storm finally connected late in the second period as Willy Miller poked in a rebound off a shot by O’Laughlin for a 1-0 lead heading into the third period.
But the B&B train started chugging in the third period. They tied the game two minutes in when Evan Milski dropped the puck to Jack Greene at the point and Greene found the back of the net through a double screen. Two minutes later they struck again when Greene intercepted a breakout pass and set up Braden Mota for a 2-1 B&B lead.
One minute later B&B struck again when Ian McBride found Mike Stanley all alone on the weak side from the point and Stanley shoved it through for a 3-1 lead.
The backbreaker for the Storm came with four minutes left in the game as a fumbled pass at the blue line led to a breakaway for Greene and he skated to net to score. The Storm managed to score one last goal as Lurch finished off a broken play but B&B was not to be beat, skating to the 4-2 win and the 2015 Southwest Cup title.