Wolverines finish season at Front Range tournament

Take two of four games over weekend

Questions swirled around the West Elk Wolverines hockey camp as they prepared for the final tournament of the season. They had just come off a devastating loss in the league tournament finals a week earlier and had to turn it around in a week’s time to get ready for one last push.
In addition, they were handed the dubious distinction of having to play three games on the opening day of the tournament, starting at 7 a.m. against Cherry Creek.
The two teams have established an intense rivalry over the course of the season, with the Wolverines owning the better part of it, but Cherry Creek dipped into their deep roster to pull together their best team of the season and took control of the game early.
Cherry Creek was up 3-0 early in the second period before the Wolverines woke up to settle into their game plan, setting up Ashton Mabry for their first goal of the game. Cherry Creek responded to go up 4-1 but the Wolverines were clicking and Sam Reaman scored five minutes into the second period to draw even closer. The Wolverines netted one last goal with a minute left as Josh Wallin scored off an assist from Ian O’Banion but Cherry Creek managed to hold on for the 4-3 win.
“Cherry Creek did a good job of establishing their game plan early on and we literally woke up in the dying minutes of the first period,” says coach Joe Otsuka. “Ultimately, if we get off to a better start, we get maybe six or eight more shots, which equates to maybe another goal.”
The Wolverines lined back up later that day to cruise to an 8-1 win over Heritage led by Isaac Evans, who tallied three goals and an assist in the game and keeping the Wolverines’ hopes alive for a shot at another tournament final.
But three games in one day was a lot to ask of the team and Otsuka could see the effect on his team as they prepared for their game that evening against the Evolution.
“Right from the start I knew that our kids were both mentally and physically tired,” says Otsuka.
Nevertheless, the Wolverines gave what they had left in the tank against a talented Evolution team. Mabry and Reaman each scored to keep the game close before the Evolution scored two goals in the final minute of the second period to take a 4-2 lead.
The Wolverines rebounded one last time as Reaman scored two more goals in the fifth minute of the third period to tie the game 4-4, but the Evolution netted their fifth of the game 10 seconds later and added one more late in the game to finish off the Wolverines 6-4.
“It was a tough game to play and they were struggling to get through it,” says Otsuka.
With the finals out of reach, the Wolverines closed out the season on Sunday morning against the Ranch Hockey Club in what Otsuka described as a “slugfest.”
Gage Meredith broke the scoreless tie late in the first period but Ranch tied it up in the final minute and the two teams continued trading blows through the second period. The breakthrough for the Wolverines came 11 minutes into the second period when Evans battled solo against three Ranch players during a penalty kill situation to come up with the puck and skate to net to bury a shorthanded goal for a 2-1 Wolverines lead.
The tenuous one-goal lead held throughout the third period until the final minute when Colby Archuleta scored the insurance goal to seal the 3-1 win and finish the 2015 season on a high note.
“The kids wanted to finish the season off right,” says Otsuka.
Overall, Otsuka was happy with what his team accomplished in the first year of the West Elk Wolverines hockey program and believes it bodes well for the future.
“I think, given the extensive amount of work they put in this year, I’m overly satisfied with the goals we set and creating a good foundation for the next three to four years,” says Otsuka. “They did a great job of setting the standard for hard work, commitment to the team and being responsible for the image of the program in the valley.”