The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Home game Friday at 4:30 p.m.
By Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans hockey team returned to play last weekend following the holiday break and outscored opponents 20-3 over the course of two games to improve to 4-1-1 overall.
It was an unknown how the team would play heading into the games as high school teams are not allowed to practice during a portion of the break and then when the Titans could return to workouts, illness ran rampant through the team and the coaches.
“It was pretty tough because we didn’t have a consistent practice schedule,” says coach Joey Otsuka. “It was a crapshoot.”
They jumped back into game action on Friday, January 5 when they hit the road to face the Battle Mountain Huskies and the Titans coaching staff just had one main hope in mind.
“We see what they can do in practice,” says Otsuka. “Let’s see if we can see the same team in games that we see in practice.”
For the most part they did against the Huskies starting in the opening minute with a Grady Train goal when Grady Dietrich scored off an assist from Grady Buckhanan 30 seconds into the game.
“That goal got us started the right way,” says Otsuka.
Two minutes later toward the end of a penalty kill the Titans struck again as Dietrich found Ethan Suazo in the slot with a pass and Suazo tipped the puck past the Huskies’ goalie for a 2-0 lead.
Battle Mountain scored four minutes later but spent a majority of the first period in the penalty box and the Titans used the opportunity to add a third goal when Dom Cerio scored a powerplay goal off an assist from Marshall Spann for a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period. While happy with their play, the coaches did remind the players to keep running their systems getting zone entry and establishing puck possession for quality shots with players in front of the net rather than just shooting when and where possible.
Spann set up Suazo in the second period for a 4-1 Titans’ lead and Crested Butte kept pouring it on in the third period to score three more goals. Suazo completed the hat trick, Brewer Bogart scored off an assist from Dietrich and Max Dukeman set up Luke Hartigan for the Titans’ seventh goal. Battle Mountain did manage one more goal, but the Titans were far from reachable at that point finishing off the Huskies 7-2. Titans’ goalie Ryder Church finished the night with close to 30 saves.
They remained on the road to face Air Academy the next day, a program that has been struggling all season long. Crested Butte took a 2-0 lead in the first period off goals from Dietrich and Mark Williams. They continued to gain momentum in the second period rattling off four more goals as Carson Zummach, Vojta Jirka, Williams and Dietrich all scored for a 7-0 Titans’ lead by the end of the second period.
While remaining mindful of sportsmanship, the Titans did focus on playing quality hockey to score another six goals in the third period with Zummach finishing off his hat trick, Rhodes Moffat netting a goal along with Dukeman, Williams and Dietrich for the 13-1 win. Gustav Desaulniers got the start in net and finished with six saves on seven shots.
“We had an inkling they weren’t going to be great and halfway through the first period we could see where the game was going,” says Otsuka. “But our top guys didn’t rest on their laurels. They demand more from the younger players. It’s good to have other voices out there push the other guys.”
The Titans have a big test this Friday, January 12 when they host Summit at Jorgensen Ice Arena at 4:30 p.m.
“It’s going to be a tough test,” says Otsuka. They’re highly skilled and move the puck well. We need to win the mental war with them. It’s the start of a big stretch of tough games coming up.”
