Titans hockey falls in first two games of season

Injuries piling up 

By Than Acuff 

It was already a rough start to the season for the Crested Butte Titans hockey team with three players missing the opening weekend Thursday through Saturday, November 21-23 in Gunnison due to injuries. And over the course of a scrimmage and two games, it looks like things got worse for the Titans.

They opened the weekend on Thursday with a scrimmage against Cheyenne Mountain and while it was just a scrimmage with a tough game the next day, the players were fired up to get things going.

“The guys were excited to put the uniforms on and get after it,” says coach Joey Otsuka. “I thought they played pretty well despite not having three of our best players.”

The Titans then took to the ice on Friday for their first game of the season hosting the Standley Lake Gators out of Westminster. The Gators dropped down to 4A after making it far in the 5A state tournament last year, so the Titans expected a challenge.

“We knew it would be tough,” says Otsuka.

Both teams seemed a bit slow through the opening period, but Titans’ goalie Gustav Desauliners came up with a couple of early saves as the Titans assumed a fairly defensive posture.

They eventually broke the seal on the scoreless game during a penalty kill when Grady Buckhanan seized on a miscue by Standley Lake at the blue line and skated to goal to beat the goaltender with a backhand for a 1-0 Titans’ lead. The Gators put in a surge late in the first period, but the Titans protected the house to hold onto their 1-0 lead heading into the second period.

“I liked how we came out,” says Otsuka. “We had a lot of adrenaline with it being the home opener and a good crowd.”

Both teams picked up the pace in the second period and the Titans defensive positioning and pinpoint poke checks continued to keep Standley Lake frustrated when trying to break out of their zone and get through neutral ice. Both teams endured a series of penalties and the Titans capitalized on a powerplay eight minutes into the period when Buckhanan gathered the puck behind the Gators’ net and fed Carson Zummach in slot for their second goal of the game.

Unfortunately for the Titans, they were unable to maintain their effort that led to the 2-0 lead. Standley Lake responded two minutes later with their first goal of the night and then came out in the third period to finish it off with four unanswered goals to hand the Titans a 5-2 loss. Desauliners ended up with 30 saves in the game.

“We used 80-percent of the gas tank in the first period and a half,” says Otsuka. “They did everything they could but closing out the game with tight personnel and half the team sick is hard.”

Making matters worse, the Titans lost captain Marshall Spann to a concussion during the game, so they were down yet another key player when they returned to the ice to face Colorado Academy on Saturday.

Crested Butte hung tough to start down just 1-0 after the first period but as the game wore on, they continued to lose more players to injuries forcing the coaches to lean even more on the younger players on the team.

“We don’t want to put them out there prematurely because it can be a knock to their confidence,” says Otsuka. “It takes time but they did the best they could. One upside is we’re definitely realizing we can give them a little more time and their progress is coming on faster and faster.”

Colorado Academy would keep pushing the pace on the depleted Titans team scoring three goals in the second period and three in the third to beat the Titans 7-0. Titans’ goalie Ryder Church finished stopping 40 of Colorado Academy’s 47 shots.

“When the bird is cooked, it’s cooked,” says Otsuka. “We had already played six periods with a short roster going into that game.”

The Titans will use the Thanksgiving beak to get some light workouts in and focus on recovery. They’re currently down nine players, one-third of their total roster, several of whom are upper classmen. Otsuka hopes to get four of them back in time for their next game when they face Aspen on Friday, December 6 and then the rest of the injured player back in action by mid-December.