Titans hockey drop two games to Steamboat

“Our kids played their best hockey yet”

[ by Than Acuff ]

It was a tough weekend for the Crested Butte Titans hockey team dropping both games to the Steamboat Springs Sailors on Friday and Saturday, December 10-11.

They opened the two-game stretch with a 2-0 loss on Friday night with the difference coming from two power play goals by the Sailors in the second period. Titans’ goalie Tim Wonnacott finished the game with 30 saves.

“We had a few opportunities but it just didn’t seem like we could really get our feet moving,” says coach Billy Watson.

The coaches made a few adjustments to prepare for the second showdown on Saturday and the tweaks made a world of difference as the Titans opened the first period with an extra spring in their step.

“We changed some things up on our forecheck,” explains Watson. “We needed more support on the forecheck and that support, plus anticipation, equals good hockey sense.”

The effort of Sam Dukeman, Evan Sewards and Grady Dietrich in the first period helped set the tone for the Titans as they looked to take it to the Sailors from the first drop of the puck.

Unfortunately, a string of penalties eventually opened the door for Steamboat and they scored three goals in the final three minutes of the first period to take a 3-0 lead into the break.

“Honestly, I thought we were outplaying them,” says Watson.

The Titans then opened the second period still in a penalty kill situation for three more minutes but they shut the door on the Sailors’ power play and then built momentum from there.

“That was the first time our penalty kill showed some bright spots,” says Watson.

The Titans finally broke the seal on the Sailors’ net seven minutes into the second period when a shot from Jack Lambert grazed off Colm Piccaro in the slot and in.

Five minutes later the Titans struck again with a massive short-handed goal thanks to the effort of their penalty kill. The Titans won the faceoff in the Sailors’ zone and Duke Sloan fired a shot from the point. The goalie made the first save but Lambert poked in the rebound to pull within one of Steamboat heading into the third period.

The Titans tied the game three minutes into the third when Blue Gardner picked the upper corner with a shot from inside the blue line and Crested Butte was on the cusp of taking the game over for good.

“That was awesome to see,” says Watson. “They just kept playing with that same grit they had in the first period and did a good job of running our systems.”

But the Sailors regrouped to score two more goals down the stretch to deny the Titans the comeback win. Titans’ goalie Jack Perkins finished the game with 21 saves.

“That was a tough one,” says Watson. “I thought we outplayed them the entire game. Our kids played their best hockey yet.”
Crested Butte hits the road this coming weekend to face Summit on Saturday, December 18.

“It’s still early,” says Watson. “We’re going to do our best to get our first win of the season.”