Altitude Painting caulks the Talk of the Town for win

It’s all in the prep work

By Than Acuff

After two periods of cold ass scoreless hockey, Altitude Painting netted two goals in the third to skate to a 2-0 win over the Talk of the Town Sunday, January 19. All of this on the eve of the swearing in of our new president and the date dedicated to remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

I’ll let you decide if it’s ironic or not. Whatever irony is because truth is, everyone knows what irony is but it’s hard to define it. Kind of like a comment Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart made about obscenity, and more specifically pornography, in the case Jacobellis v. Ohio in 1964.

“I know it when I see it.”

I know what I saw on Sunday night, a test of wills, extremities and styles as the Talk of the Town looked to play a more composed puck possession-based brand of C/B league hockey while Altitude Painting displayed a quick transitional style looking to exploit the Talk with their speed.

That was immediately evident as Altitude Painting skater Bobby Crimi, of Inglorious Batters fame in the local softball leagues, bolted up the wing in the first 30 seconds of the game to feed the puck to the slot only to squirt through unattended.

As the period continued, the Talk of the Town set up shop in the Altitude Painting zone several times with their defensemen holding court at the blue line to keep turning the screw and pushing the puck deep. The effort set up a couple of chances for the Talk, but Altitude Painting goalie Nicholas Mikeska came up with the saves to stave off the Talk attack.

The pressure continued with Jeff Koether and Doug Collin skating hard to push the pace on Altitude Painting but another series of saves by Mikeska held them scoreless and Crimi had one last breakaway at the close of the first period but Talk goalie Ryan Houseman made the stop to leave the teams notched 0-0 at the end of the first.

Once again Altitude Painting came out swinging at the start of the second period as Amelia Poppe carried the puck up ice to feed Jack Foersterling, also of Inglorious Batters fame, for a shot only to be turned away by Houseman.

The second period then continued as a carbon copy of the first period with the Talk’s patience creating chances, Altitude’s counters threatening and some players still trying to stay on their skates.

Shane-O Palmer’s shot midway through the period flew just wide of the Talk net and Collin skated behind the Talk’s goal to feed the slot once again but, once again, the Altitude team was packed in the slot to caulk all the gaps.

Crimi then had one last dash to close the second period catching the Talk pinched in but his shot in the final 20 seconds of the period pinged off the post and the two teams headed into the third period still scoreless.

Remarkably, at this point the game stepped up a notch as both teams appeared to have finally warmed up or just succumbed to the numb.

Side note, new Crested Butte marketing motto: Succumb to the Numb! 

In true Altitude Painting form, Crimi found another open lane to net on a counterattack and after looking to pick the corners in his first attempts, this time he looked five-hole only to have Houseman close that off too.

A minute later, Mike Butcher picked up Crimi as he broke loose on a pass from Stevie Kremer to skate to net and score for a 1-0 Altitude Painting lead with eight minutes left in the game.

Rather than panic, the Talk of the Town kept doing what they’d been doing all game to try and set up shots, but Mikeska proved unbeatable. The Talk then pulled their goalie and while Jimmy Hensley was doing everything he could to try and create the tying goal, the plan eventually backfired as Foersterling scored an empty net goal in the final second for the 2-0 win. 

Another marketing motto: It may not snow but at least it’s cold!