LITTLETON — Jake Bearss is 5-feet-9, 150 pounds, and doesn’t look any bigger flying around on a pair of skates. The Steamboat Springs center, however, plays like a Mercedes-Benz snowplow — lots of speed, handling, agility and the ability to knock just about anything out of his way.
Bearss and the Sailors, who all seemed to move with similar skill and power Saturday night no matter their size, started and finished with a flurry to drop Mullen 6-1 at the Edge Ice Arena.
Bearss scored the opening goal, added an assist and lost just one physical encounter — he got knocked back a few steps by a Mullen defenseman at the blue line.
“He was a lot bigger than me too,” he said. “We train after every practice. We really work on our core strength.”
The surging Sailors (5-0) scored three goals in the opening eight minutes and three more in the final seven minutes. They got points from 10 players and needed just 14 saves from standout goalie Matt Dawes. James Whelihan had two goals, Ian Anderson had a goal and an assist, Charlie Smith assisted on two goals and defenseman Grant Ehrick had a goal and two assists for the Sailors.
The Sailors were fairly physical with their forechecking but were even better in the corners. They kept the Mustangs from lingering in the offensive zone by digging out the puck and transitioning quickly through the neutral zone.
The Mustangs (2-1), who include players from Colorado Academy, got a power-play goal from Nick Bartos with 2:14 left in the first period. Bartos pounced on a loose puck and fired it by Dawes, on his back after making two initial stops.
“I got a good laugh out of it. It was a good goal; it was fun,” Dawes said. “I got tangled up with one of my guys. No big deal. Especially with this game, it’s all mental.”
Mullen settled down after Bartos’ goal but was forced to defend for most of the second period as it was outshot 11-1.
“I thought we were pretty rattled in the first and spotted them the 3-1,” Mustangs coach Phil Levy said. “I have a young team, you know, mostly juniors.”
Mullen goalie Joe Kervitzky finished with 38 saves, including several top-shelf stops, to keep the Mustangs close until late in the third period.
Steamboat Springs 3 0 3 — 6
Mullen 1 0 0 — 1
First period — SS: Bearss (Ehrick) 11:35; Whelihan (Smith, Weston) 10:09; Anderson (Ehrick) 7:45 pp; M: Bartos (George, Wiebe) 2:14 pp. Penalties — Butler, M, (hooking) 8:44; Butler, M, (unsportsmanlike) 8:44; Whelihan, SS, (boarding) 3:31.
Second period — None. Penalties — Smith, SS, (cross check) 10:15; Fritz, SS, (hooking), 3:05; Wiebe, M, (misconduct), 3:05; Wiebe, M, (game misconduct), 3:05; Rhinehart, M, (tripping) 2:27.
Third period — SS: Ehrick (Bonner, Ostrom) 6:46; Winkelblech (Bender, Bearss) 2:56; Whelihan (Smith, Anderson) 2:07. Penalties — Butler, M, (unsportsmanlike) 14:25.
Saves — Steamboat Springs (Dawes) 7-1-6 – 14; Mullen (Kervitzky) 9-11-18 – 38. Power-play opportunities — Steamboat Springs 1-for-4; Mullen 1-for-3.
