The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“You gotta get ‘em dip-tet boosters yearly or else they’ll develop lockjaw and night vision”
Watching the hockey game Monday night, all I could think was, NOOOOOOOO! Wind?! Are you serious?!
Here I decided to blow off skiing Monday to “get some stuff done” because it’s supposed to snow even more the next day. But I had forgotten. One of two things almost always happens. Either the faucet shuts off due to some meteorological anomaly in the Great Basin, wherever that is, or the wind blows harder than a two-dollar steak overnight (mixed metaphor: check) and screws things up.
Low and behold, it appeared the latter was happening Monday night.
When will I learn? SONOFA!
I guess the only upside was that the blustery conditions made for old-school conditions at Big Mine Ice Arena as snow swirled onto the rink, reminding me of the days of yore when teams had to shovel the rink between periods and pucks died in the snow piled up along the boards (segue to real story: check).
Granted it wasn’t quite as bad as “back in the day” and it definitely didn’t slow things down as the Last Steep and Eldo provided some serious high-octane hockey Monday night.
No surprise really, given that it is the playoffs and the Last Steep has a penchant for peaking in the post-season (alliteration: check). And, it appears they are at it again.
The Last Steep came out determined to push the Eldo back on their skates from the opening face-off, looking to handcuff the explosive attack of Don Turner and Ryan Maddux with intense forward pressure and no-holds-barred hustle. Marie “Midnight at the Oasis, Miasma’s Acting Up, Madras Shirt, Say It Loud and There’s Music Playing” Madaras (string of random nicknames based loosely on a player’s name: check), Nate Welch and Michael Nuestedter (misspelling Nuestadter’s name: check) were flying up front while Chad Dixon, Willy Coburn and Ian Havlick held court on defense.
The hard work of the Last Steep paid off seven minutes into the first period as Havlick circled forward into neutral ice to receive a pass from Matt Schmalz and skate to net to beat Eldo goalie Zach Vaughter one-on-one.
Two minutes later the Last Steep struck again as Havlick’s slap shot from the point flew wide of the net but bounced off the boards to Welch in front of the Eldo net, and Welch punched it through for a 2-0 Last Steep lead.
But with a team as explosive as the Eldo, things were destined to swing their way and the turnaround was sparked (passive voice: check) by a couple of saves from Vaughter early in the second period. The Eldo took the momentum swing provided by Vaughter’s effort and turned it into a goal when Turner sliced through three Last Steep players to skate to net and beat Zach Vandyke, cutting into the Last Steep’s lead.
The Eldo’s surge continued and they were knocking on the door for the next four minutes, but the Last Steep capitalized on the Eldo’s push with a minute left in the second period. Welch skated in behind the Eldo defensemen as they were cheating in off the blue line and took a pass from Coburn, then skated straight to net to finish and give the Last Steep some breathing room heading into the third period.
The Eldo continued to press the Last Steep into their defensive zone in the third period with Quinn Langsfeld and Matty Cahir working hard on the boards and Mikey Weil setting up shop in the slot. Geza Michel proved a catalyst for the Eldo as well, holding strong at the blue line to keep the puck in the zone (mention of another woman player: check) but the Last Steep packed in tight in front of their net to shut down any open looks.
Langsfeld got one golden look, ripping a wrist shot from inside the blue line that was destined to pick the upper corner before Vandyke flagged it down with a glove save. As the period wore on, the Eldo wore out, and the Last Steep held on for the 3-1 win.
But be warned, with the double-elimination format of the town league playoffs I don’t believe this will be the last we hear from the Eldo. I suspect they will rise from the ashes like a phoenix (overused simile: check) and wreak havoc upon the town league post-season (Eldo hockey story without mentioning Milo: check).
And the skiing Tuesday was just fine.
