The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Open season Saturday, January 30
[ by Than Acuff ]
Every season it seems the Crested Butte Titans hockey team is playing catch up through the first few weeks of the season. Most of their opponents have several weeks of ice time under their belts whether it’s with their high school team or on their club teams as the Front Range is rife with indoor ice available year-round.
This year is different though.
For starters, head coach Billy Watson has been working hard the past several years to get fall hockey going and the effort paid off this fall as participation was better than ever before with the kids getting a robust season of workouts and games in.
“It’s been almost five months now that they’ve been practicing between dry land and ice sessions,” says Watson. “They’ve been working really hard.”
In addition, thanks to the efforts of the county, the kids and residents, the athletes have been able to practice as a full squad the entire time while other teams in other counties have been limited in their workouts.
“We’ve been fortunate to be able to have 25 people at a time at practices,” says Watson. “A lot of other teams are limited to just 10 total and some haven’t been able to practice at all and that’s given us a good advantage.”
While Watson took a less involved role during the fall hockey season, coaches Bob Piccaro, Matt Prudhomme and Shane McGuinness continued workouts and games with the players and they’ve set the team up for success heading into high school play. The fall team was surging too as they were 7-1 in fall league play and ready to make a run at the title before COVID cut the season short.
“I was so grateful to have those coaches step in and we’ve been working out the kinks and getting everyone up to speed and the kids are definitely ready,” says Watson.
Watson also has a lot of returning players as well as a couple key additions to the roster and feels that he may be suiting up three solid lines of forwards and has four, even five, solid defensemen. Still, like all good coaches, it really comes down to game day so Watson has no predictions about how the season should play out for the Titans. In addition, COVID and quarantines throw an additional challenge at all programs.
“I’d rather take it game by game,” says Watson. “A lot of things can happen given these times and COVID. We do have a lot of depth but we just have to keep everyone healthy and safe.”
Then there’s the season’s length. With all high school sports seasons cut short to try and fit them in, the curtailed timeframe can ramp up the pressure.
“They’re high school kids, we can’t put too much pressure on them,” says Watson. “Every day at practice the coaches have to bring the energy and keep it positive.”
The Titans open play on the road in Breckenridge on Saturday, January 30. Their first home game is slated for Friday, February 5 at Jorgensen Arena in Gunnison.
