Colorado Springs – The Aspen hockey team will never make excuses, but if ever there were a team that deserved the right to gripe a little bit, the Skiers are at the top of the list.
This weekend could take the cake. After enduring a long bus ride to the Front Range on Friday, the Aspen players promptly dispatched the defending state champions from Peak to Peak and then settled into their Colorado Springs hotel rooms around 12:30 Saturday morning.
Six hours later, instead of getting ready for the Rampart Rams, many of the Skiers were off to take the grueling ACT tests for four hours before hitting the ice at 1:30 p.m.
No excuses.
The Skiers (4-1) shook off the rust, made the plays when they needed to and beat the host Rams 3-2 with a last-minute goal at Sertich Ice Arena.
“Mentally, it just drains them,” Aspen coach Al Butler said. “You could see that in the first period. We weren’t really sharp and it took us a little bit to get back into it.”
Rampart (1-2) had some spring in its step from the get-go, and jumped on the Skiers 2-0 late in the first on goals from Jameson Vance and then Colton Vance.
Aspen slowly chipped away, peppering Rams goalie Steve Craver routinely through the first two periods. Nicky Anastas answered Rampart’s second goal 39 seconds later and Matt Butler scored with 27 seconds left in the second period to tie the game.
With overtime looming, Aspen defenseman Simon Dolginow made the play of the game. The senior broke up a 2-on-1 advantage in front of keeper Kody Hornburg, then keyed the transition with a headman pass to forward Ryder Fyrwald.
Fyrwald did the rest, beating Craver, who had 26 saves, with a knuckling shot from the circle.
“(Simon) made a great play … that saved the game for us,” said Fyrwald, whose pregame commitment was an interview with the University of Denver admissions office. “He chipped it off the board and I picked it up and put it on net. That’s what we were trying to do all game and it just snuck in there, I don’t know how.”
Said Rampart coach Josh McIntosh, whose father Glenn earned coach of the year honors from The Denver Post last season before losing his battle with cancer in the spring: “The big difference was the fact that Aspen outhustled us at the end of the game. They outskated us.”
Aspen 1 1 1 – 3
Rampart 2 0 0 – 2
First period – R: J. Vance (Foster), 5:49 pp; C. Vance (Pellet, Ryan), 3:54; A: Anastas (Fyrwald), 3:15. Penalties – Hallock, R (hooking), 9:25; Klein, A (elbowing), 6:56.
Second period – A: Butler (Anastas, Mines), :27. Penalties – Feldman, A (interference), 11:49; J. Vance, R (tripping), 8:33; Ryan, R (tripping), 6:33; J. Vance, R (hooking), 3:04; Fyrwald, A (holding), :01.
Third period – A: Fyrwald (Dolginow), :52. Penalties – Contino, R (interference), 14:08; Means, A (hooking), 10:37; Frias, A (roughing), 6:58; J. Vance, R (hooking), 3:11; Anastas, A (hooking), :20.
Shots on goal – Aspen 15-6-8 – 29; Rampart 9-9-8 – 26. Saves – Aspen (Hornburg) 7-9-8 – 24; Rampart (Craver) 14-5-7 – 26. Power-play opportunities – Aspen 0-for-6; Rampart 1-for-6.
E. Yunt can be reached at 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
