The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Games at Big Mine Friday and Saturday
By Than Acuff
It was near capacity at Jorgensen Ice Arena when the Crested Butte Titans hockey team hosted the Colorado Academy Mustangs on Friday, December 22. In addition to the usual contingent of students, family and friends at home games, the crowd was nearly doubled as the holiday season had plenty of hockey team alumni in the house from former Titan players to even some players from back in the Crested Butte Wolfpack days.
Unfortunately, despite the sizeable and raucous crowd, it still wasn’t enough to push the Titans past the Mustangs as the teams skated to a 2-2 tie.
There was no denying the energy that night and the Titans seemed to feed off it as they came out in the first period at breakneck pace, almost to a fault.
“They were over-skating everything,” says coach Joey Otsuka. “When we get over-excited, our timing is off.”
As the team struggled to find their rhythm, goalie Jordan Silva came up with some early saves and remained on point in his first varsity start in net this season.
“Ryder (Church) was out of town and so the door was open for the other goalies to step into the spot and Jordan really stepped up during practice that week,” says Otsuka.
The Titans did assemble a hint of their offense systems in the opening eight minutes of the game, but the wide-open energy of the game eventually paid off for Colorado Academy as they found an open look on net and scored for a 1-0 lead.
The Titans had a chance to tie it up on a powerplay with six minutes left in the first period, but the Mustangs held them off and Silva made one last big save down the stretch to keep Colorado Academy close.
Crested Butte remained on the front foot to open the second period and another Mustang penalty had the Titans on a powerplay in the fifth minute but were held at bay once again thanks in part to some outstanding goaltending from the Mustang netminder.
The Titans eventually tied the game in the ninth minute of the second period when defenseman Vojta Jirka scored from the point. Four minutes later the Titans were back on a powerplay but remained off-balance and rushed in their approach.
The other side of the Titans special teams did their work though and successfully killed a penalty late in the second period including another big save from Silva.
“He [Silva] started off timid but got more confident as the game wore on,” says Otsuka.
Crested Butte opened the third period with two more powerplays and showed some hints of their game to open some shots but still came up empty handed.
“We only had two really good powerplays the whole game. They know what to do, it’s the decision-making part of it,” says Otsuka. “The powerplay is not just about scoring, it’s an opportunity to possess the puck and really wear down the other team.”
The Mustangs continued to find open players and fire shots as the Titans remained disjointed on their defensive end with players missing their assignments and the Mustangs looking to exploit them. That led to some panic from the Titans and eventually a five-minute major penalty with just six minutes left in the game.
“We have to have poise and confidence on the defensive side,” says Otsuka.
Colorado Academy used the extended penalty to possess the puck and their patience paid off two minutes into the five-minute major to score and take a 2-1 lead.
A major penalty is non-releasable, so Crested Butte remained in a penalty kill situation but, rather than concede a third goal, they struck back as Grady Dietrich scored a short-handed goal with two minutes left in regulation to tie the game and eventually force overtime. Neither team scored in the lone overtime period to finish with a 2-2 tie. Silva finished the game with close to 40 saves on the night.
“That was a game we should have won,” says Otsuka. “The team we coaches see in practice is entirely different than the team the crowd sees at games. It’s not just Xs and Os, it’s the eight inches between the ears.”
The Titans will play their first game in Crested Butte this weekend as they host a team from Santa Fe for two exhibition, non-scholastic games at Big Mine Ice Arena. The teams play on Friday, December 29 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, December 30 at 11 a.m.
“We thought it would be a really cool event for the town and the players,” says Otsuka.
