The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Hey Altitude, show me your caulk!”
[ by Than Acuff ]It’s not that Altitude Painting is no good, they just haven’t won a game this season, yet. They will. But they’ll have to wait another week as they suffered a 9-1 loss at the hands of the midtable dark horse Sunflower on Monday, February 6.
It was a three-generation night at Big Mine Ice Arena for the Curtiss family with Steve and Nel Curtiss watching grandson Jack Curtiss while Jack Curtiss watched dad Dylan Curtiss on the ice. Warm and fuzzies all around. Though, Jack’s initial attention was somewhat distracted by finding the Zamboni until the puck dropped at which point Jack was all eyes on the game.
And the game was a good one to start as Altitude Painting set up in Sunflower’s zone moving the puck from the point, behind the net and back out to the point to try and find an open look. Their initial puck possession proved fruitless though and Sunflower’s more direct style of play proved fruitful as Jim Hensley tipped a shot from James Brennan past the Altitude goalie for a 1-0 lead and 40 seconds later Danny Stoneberg roofed the puck for a 2-0 lead.
Altitude Painting struck back two minutes later when Kevin Williams celebrated his birthday by blasting the puck off two posts and into the net. Both teams set up to trade off shots the next four minutes, but goalies Ryan Houseman and Shawn Harrington did what needed to be done with Harrington getting some help from Altitude Painting defensewoman Ashley Brown fearlessly blocking a shot and Carlee Drobnick shutting Dylan down as he circled behind the Altitude Painting net looking to set up a teammate in the slot.
Altitude Painting had one last rush to close out the period but Ian Baird’s effort broke up the attack and we had ourselves a game with Sunflower taking a slim 2-1 game into the second period.
Altitude Painting held on through the first three minutes of the second period, but Sunflower soon found their groove to rattle off the next four goals. Jack Foersterling scored off an assist from Jack Seiver to open things up and Dylan then skated coast-to-coast to score off an assist from goalie Houseman. Seiver picked the inside of the post in the seventh minute for a 5-1 Sunflower lead and the Stoneberg capped the surge with a short-handed showboat solo strike flipping the puck in the air to himself over a defenseman’s stick to set up his shot and score.
Hensley and Brennan combined again early in the third period for a 7-1 Sunflower lead and despite Altitude Painting’s never-say-die effort, Hensley finished off his hat trick and Seiver punched through a rebound off a shot from Hannah Valian to close out the 9-1 win.
All of that said, I will emphasize once again that while Altitude Painting remains winless, it won’t be for long.
