Talk of the Town grounds CB Electric in town league

A poncho, beer and a mistake by me

By Than Acuff

Well, I’ll be. Be wrong that is.

Turns out in my coverage last week of the A/B league game my memory proved failing once again.

I got my anniversary down, that’s easy, 6/24/2006. Or, as I like to remember it 6 6 6.

Daughter’s birthday can fluctuate. It’s 1/10/09 but, from time to time, I go with 1/09/10.

As for the name of a town league hockey team from 20-plus years ago, yeah, I messed that one up. It was not On Golden Pond, it was Golden Shower. But here’s the thing. Back then, I had a bit of an affinity for the bar and would often end up at said bar with the town league hockey teams to talk, well, skiing. But hockey too. And one player in particular, whose name starts with an M and rhymes with silo, at a bar 20-plus years ago, was talking about his team’s next opponent and referred to them as On Golden Pond instead of their real name, Golden Shower. So, my circuits got crossed and I have been corrected.

Speaking of the bar, the Talk of the Town faced CB Electric Sunday, January 18 at Big Mine Ice Arena and they brought a mini-bar to the bench for the game in the form of a 12-pack of PBR. That remains in town league.

As for the poncho? For the first time ever in my 20-plus years of covering town league hockey, someone wore a poncho in the game. That someone was CB Electric goalie Lucas McMullen. While I did not ask why, I can only surmise that he wore it because the Talk of the Town goalie James Brennan had a similarly colored uniform on and McMullen did not want to create any confusion. But I could be, actually can be and have been, wrong.

Though, for the first two periods and much of the third period it was more like a cloak, er poncho, of invincibility as McMullen was having himself a game, as was Brennan, and they both came up with brilliant efforts in net to keep the game close.

The Talk of the Town jumped out on CB Electric early creating numerous scoring chances, but CB Electric was not without some firepower of their own. Three minutes into the first period, CB Electric player Clay Meier sliced and diced his way up the ice to set up Mark Goldberg in the slot, but Brennan stuffed the attempt.

Talk defenseman Jeff Koether then provided some stout work at the blue line to help the Talk hold the puck in the offensive zone and Quinn Plvan did get a great look on the CB Electric net but McMullen made the initial save and a second one to deny Jimmy Hensley on the rebound.

Eventually, the Talk’s effort paid off as Andy Billmeyer found Isaac Long at the point with a pass through traffic and Long fired his shot through the aforementioned traffic to score for a 1-0 Talk lead.

McMullen and Brennan continued their efforts in net in the second period, and it wasn’t until the final two minutes before a second goal was scored when a speedy breakout by CB Electric sent Goldberg on his horse. Goldberg attracted the attention of the Talk defensemen opening up Hannah Valian in front of the goal and Goldberg assisted Valian for her goal tying the game 1-1 heading into the third period.

Remarkably, the pace of the game stepped up a notch in the third period as both teams searched for the win. They traded off attacks with Jeff Smith providing quality defensive play for CB Electric and Hensley and Kevin Van Horn battling relentlessly in neutral ice for their respective teams.

Eventually, the Talk found the finishing touch, and then some, in the final three minutes of the game. It started on a powerplay when Adam Bembenek rifled a shot from the point for a 2-1 Talk lead. The Talk then won the ensuing faceoff and scored eight seconds later when Andi Heilman lifted her backhand shot over McMullen’s shoulder for a 3-1 lead. The Talk would then score on another powerplay when Hensley won a faceoff in CB Electric’s zone and skated straight to net to score putting the finishing touch on the 4-1 Talk win.