REG engineers electric win over Altitude Painting

Undefeated and seemingly unstoppable

By Than Acuff 

Couple of things here.

For one, REG has more women on their roster than any other team. So much so that they opened their C/B town league game against Altitude Painting on Wednesday, February 11 with five women on the ice.

Secondly, while they are undefeated, they’ve really only run roughshod through a couple of games with five of their eight wins determined by two goals or less, including their game against Altitude Painting.

So, yes, I’m saying there’s a chance.

The women’s line set the tone in their opening shift as Bronwyn Walton turned on the afterburners up the boards to create REGs first attack. Moments later Robin Gross fired a shot from the blue line that tested Altitude Painting goalie James Brennan and soon after that, Sophie Klein set up in the slot for a shot that tested Brennan once again.

The good news for Altitude Painting, Brennan passed all of the initial tests and gave them the foundation upon which to build their game as the first period continued. They proceeded to build, stick by stick, with Erik Berglund firing a shot on net and William Brunner threatening minutes later for Altitude Painting forcing REG goalie Nicholas Mikeska to kick save the puck just wide of the post.

REG would strike first though as a “breakout pass” landed on CJ Hoover’s stick and Hoover stunned the lone defensemen with a double move that spun the defensemen around and Hoover fired the puck past Brennan for a 1-0 lead.

Tucker Brown put in massive shifts for Altitude Painting looking to create some magic and nearly did but they couldn’t quite connect in the attacking zone. REG had one last surge looking for an insurance goal sending Bobby Crimi loose to net, but Brennan made the stop once again, a reality that would haunt Crimi the rest of the game.

Altitude Painting came out in the second period with a spring in their skate looking to equalize and did after four minutes of attack. Nick Catmur’s knuckler through traffic looked bound for the back of the net but Mikeska’s cat-like reaction denied his attempt. A minute later Altitude Painting got their just reward for the efforts as Berglund skated into the offensive zone and fired a slapshot to pick the low corner tying the game 1-1.

REG took it as a wakeup call and the women took over once again as Mallory Briggs fired a shot from the wing that popped up off Mikeska’s stick and fell to Mollye Erikson for her to stuff home for a 2-1 lead.

Altitude Painting came close to tying it up once again when Mike Molaison centered the puck to Berglund for a shot, but Mikeska made another stop to help REG hold onto their 2-1 lead heading into the third period.

Gary Huresky got on his horse at the start of the third period looking to inspire another Altitude Painting surge but REG’s defense was too well organized and too quick to be beat. They maintained their efforts through the remainder of the third period pressing into Altitude Painting’s zone and while Brennan came up with a flurry of saves, the pressure proved too great and Hoover snuck in on the post to tuck the puck a second time putting the finishing touches on the 3-1 REG win.