February 3, 2008 – Denver, Colo. -- After two consecutive heart-breaking one-goal losses, the Coors Light Colorado Climax hoped its next opponent would live up to its name and help snap the two-game losing streak. For more than two periods, it looked like those hopes might be dashed, as the Slump Busters, the division doormat with only one win to its credit, stayed with the Toonies shot for shot.
Then the Climax Two decided to get serious. The result was a four-goal scoring spree, and the Toonies coasted to a 6-2 win on Jan. 25 in Westminster, allowing them to keep their grip on fourth place in the C-5 division.
“We came out flat,” said Climax Too winger Marc Munz, whose goal at 6:01 of the third period proved to be the game winner. “Maybe we thought we could take the night off against the last place team, I don’t know. But we have to show up for all 60 minutes in every game if we’re going to move up in the standings.”
The Toonies took a 2-1 lead at the end of the second period on the strength of Rodney Saunders’s unassisted short-handed goal at 19:22. But the Slump Busters tied the game on Jamie Moore’s second goal of the game at 3:37 of the third period, and memories of the two most recent losses started loom in the minds of the Toonies.
“We didn’t have any flow and weren’t getting shots on the net,” said defenseman Steve Brothers. “I think something just snapped in us when they tied the game, and we stepped up our forechecking. That seemed to be the difference for us.”
Both teams had 14 shots on goal through the first two periods of play. The Toonies exploded for 17 shots in the third, while goalie Matt Durbahan stopped all five of the Slump Busters shots.
The Slump Busters opened the scoring at 7:54 of the first period on Moore’s first goal, an unassisted effort. Three minutes later, Rebecca Godsill took a pass off the boards from Dave Decker and slipped a nifty backhander past the goalie to tie the game for the Toonies.
Carl Goolsby was also credited with an assist. Saunders’s goal ended the first period scoring.
The second period was a stalemate, as neither team could generate quality scoring chances. Then after the Slump Busters tied the game in the third, the Toonies went to work.
Eric Premer followed Munz’s goal by slapping a Godsill’s pass from the circle into the net at 6:48. Godsill tallied her second goal and third point of the game at 10:10. Saunders’s then scored on a power play at 17:45 to cap the winning margin at four goals.
The Toonies finished with an impressive 32 shots on goal and were 1 for 6 on the power play.
Meanwhile, the Climax Evolution continued its surprising run by holding off the Spitting Llamas 3-2 on Jan. 26 to keep their opponents four points behind in the D2 division. Rusty Messick had three points, including a goal and two assists, and Derek Hayes added two goals. At 10-4, the Evolution is enjoying the most success of the three Climax teams this season.
Elsewhere, the Climax dropped a 3-1 decision to Wendy’s on Jan. 29 in the B3 division. Cameron Hebel’s power play goal at 12:17 of the third period was the only score for the Loonies. The third period saw both teams slapped with four penalties each, as the Climax tried to ratchet up their offense, to no avail.