The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We were able to flex our muscles in their defensive zone”
By Than Acuff
When the Crested Butte Titans hockey team took the ice to face the Liberty Lancers on Saturday, January 18, it didn’t look good on paper. The Titans had just two wins all season while the Lancers came into the game with a record of 7-2 and were ranked sixth in the state. But anything can happen once the players hit the ice and anything almost did happen as the Titans gave the Lancers a scare before falling 5-3 with the final Lancers’ goal an empty netter.
It wasn’t the best opening for the Titans as Liberty scored just 10 seconds into the game and got a one-on-one look on net a minute later, but Ryder Church made the save, and the Titans eventually woke up to start taking the game to the Lancers.
Max Dukeman put in a massive effort in the Titans offensive zone to get their attacking rhythm going and they gained momentum with each trip up the ice. The Titans found the equalizer in the sixth minute of the first period dumping the puck into the corner and working to win possession. Matej Voldan read the scrap in the corner to get into position and when the puck squirted out to him, he skated to the top of the faceoff circle to fire a wrister past the Liberty goalie.
Crested Butte continued to pressure the puck up and down the ice, find open players on breakouts and fight in the corners and along the boards to disrupt the Lancers and Church turned away any shots Liberty did get off to keep the game tied 1-1 by the end of the first period.
“I loved that first period, the team responded,” says head coach Joey Otsuka. “I thought it was great on a number of levels and very happy to go right back out there and get a goal.”
A long shift ensued to open the second period and Liberty capitalized on play in front of their bench for an extended period of time to retake the lead. The work rate of both Marshall Spann and Luke Hartigan helped the Titans keep pace with Liberty, but a succession of Crested Butte penalties would bite the Titans. The Titans killed off the first penalty, but Liberty was back on the powerplay two minutes later and scored this time to go up 3-1 midway through the second period.
Liberty then tacked on a fourth goal a minute later and when the Titans suffered two more penalties, including playing a minute two men down, it looked like the game could have easily unraveled.
“It’s frustrating for us coaches because a lot of the goals against us are getting scored from the same spot and it’s very defensible,” says Otsuka.
Crested Butte stepped up to the challenge though killing off the penalties and then got a big boost as Voldan broke clear to skate up the wing. Spann joined Voldan and Voldan slipped the puck to Spann for him to punch it past the Liberty goalie pulling the Titans back to within two. Crested Butte would kill off another penalty with Church making the needed saves at the end of the period to keep the Lancers within reach heading into the third period.
“We were able to flex our muscles in their defensive zone,” says Otsuka. “We were trying to find ways to get back in the game with every single shift.”
Crested Butte built off their heroic efforts in the second period to come out in the third swinging. Constant pressure by the Titans led to a Liberty penalty, their first of the game, and while their man advantage fell short of scoring, their efforts during and following the powerplay kept them in the hunt.
While Liberty managed to hold off Crested Butte for an extended stretch, Crested Butte finally earned a reward for their efforts. The line of Tanner Maltby, Cobin O’Connor and Cole Hawley had been putting in quality shifts all game, and it came to a head with two and a half minutes left in the game. Maltby’s unabashed effort kept the puck alive in Liberty’s defensive zone and led to a goal from Hawley and the Titans were within one.
“Tanner was just a man possessed, just a honey badger,” says Otsuka.
Things started looking even brighter for the Titans down the stretch as they pulled their goalie, and Liberty committed another penalty to give the Titans a six-on-four for the final minute of the game. Crested Butte was pressing and firing shots with shots just an inch or two off target. Unfortunately, the game-tying goal eluded the Titans and a swipe of the puck by a Lancer to clear the zone slid down the ice and into the Titans’ empty net to seal Liberty’s 5-3 win.
“We put ourselves there, the puck was just zipping by the net,” says Otsuka. “If three or four of those shots are on goal, one of them goes in and we tie the game.”
The Titans hit the road this week to face Pueblo County and Caprock Academy.
