The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Playoff action opens Thursday, February 22
By Than Acuff
After falling 9-4 to Bliss Chiropractic the night before, the Eldo rebounded to skate to a 9-6 win over Alpine Lumber on Thursday, February 15, in Crested Butte A/B town league action. The win keeps the Eldo in second place in the league standings by just a point, with both Bliss and Rocky Mountain Trees nipping at their heels while Lacy Construction has a firm hold of first place.
As the goalie quandary continues, the teams called on Eric DiMarco and Carter Brock to stand in net with the goalies switching teams midway through the second period. The Eldo wiped the taste of the loss from their mouths early and often throughout the first period as they jumped out to a sizeable lead.
Brock was in net for Alpine Lumber and came up with several saves during the opening minutes of the game, but the Eldo scored two minutes in when a textbook backcheck by Pink Loubier offered up the puck for William Muller and Muller scored.
Joe Coburn’s work up and down the ice provided some chances for Alpine Lumber and the defense of John Chandler helped hold off the Eldo attack at times, but the Eldo continued to dominate. Eldo defensemen Thomas McLean and Danny Stoneberg set up shop at the blue line to keep the puck in Alpine’s defensive zone and their work paid off when McLean skated in off the blue line to score for a 2-0 Eldo lead.
Alpine Lumber looked to climb back into the game as Ryan Carroll and Stu Jernigan looked to connect but the Eldo quashed the Alpine surge with two goals in the final minute of the first period. Loubier followed on a rebound to score for the Eldo and then Stoneberg struck with three seconds left for a 4-0 advantage before anyone could say or do anything.
While Alpine remained unaffected by the four-goal disadvantage and continued to skate, and skate hard, they suffered a fifth blow three minutes into the second period when Muller scored his second goal of the game for a 5-0 Eldo lead.
Down but not out (that will be the title of my novel about Alpine Lumber’s season when they win it all), Alpine Lumber would eventually strike back when Coburn took a pass from Mike Fabbre to slice through the Eldo team and score.
If you’re a parent in Alaska wondering what your daughter is up to, it’s time to pay attention.
Alpine Lumber struck a second time as Carlee Drobnick came up big in the defensive zone and then skated the length of the ice to follow on a rebound to score.
Drobnick’s effort had the team step up another level to start their incredible comeback only to have Muller complete his hat trick for the Eldo off an assist from Dom Piccaro and a 6-2 lead knocking Alpine Lumber back down, but not out.
Case in point, the Eldo picked up a penalty early in the third period and Alpine Lumber capitalized on the powerplay when Chandler fired a shot from the blue line through traffic and in to keep hope alive.
Twenty seconds later, Alpine Lumber scored again when Jack Weise set up Dodson Harper for a fourth Alpine Lumber goal. But the Eldo came right back to build on their lead three minutes later. Betsy Welsh had been lurking high when the Eldo was on defense looking for a breakaway goal and her ploy paid off when Muller slipped a pass out to her, and she skated to net to beat DiMarco with a backhand.
Alpine Lumber responded two minutes later when Drobnick assisted Coburn for his second goal of the game only to have Piccaro shred through the Alpine Lumber defense and tally the Eldo’s eighth goal of the game.
Alpine Lumber pulled their goalie with 90 seconds left in regulation and promptly scored as Bobby Crimi set up Harper for his second goal, but the Eldo had the last say when Piccaro assisted Jack Morgan for an empty net goal with 21 seconds left in the game and the 9-6 win.
