The Breckenridge Vipers minor hockey league team heads into the homestretch of their 2018-19 season — and next game against their arch-rival the Vail Yeti — sporting a 4-8 record after a hard-fought loss to the Pikes Peak Vigilantes on Saturday night.
At the Stephen C. West Ice Arena in Breckenridge, the Vipers ultimately fell by the tally of 8-7 in an enthralling, high-scoring matchup. The loss extended the Vipers’ multi-game losing skid following an 11-2 loss to Vail at home on Feb. 9 and an 8-6 loss to Pikes Peak on Jan. 26.
Breckenridge will return to action on Saturday, March 2, with their final tilt of the season versus the Yeti, scheduled for 8 p.m. at Stephen C. West Ice Arena. The Vipers’ 2018-19 home slate will then round out against the Denver Leafs on March 16 followed by back-to-back home games versus San Diego on March 22 and 23. The Vipers compete in the Mountain West Hockey League, a Senior A minor hockey league consisting of clubs from across the western United States. Breckenridge resides toward the back of the pack of this season’s Mountain West Hockey League standings, which is currently led by the NorCal Ice Raiders (12-0-0).
Pabst Pond Hockey
After a weekend full of pond hockey games on the ice at North Pond Park in Silverthorne, five different divisional champions were crowned at the 10th annual Pabst Blue Ribbon Colorado Pond Hockey Tournament, the largest pond hockey tournament west of the Mississippi River.
In the open division, Twine Time won the championship, defeating Oakley 11-8 in the final match. Twine Time rallied for the championship after a 3-1 record in pool play that included a 16-14 loss to Oakley on Saturday. In Sunday’s knockout-round matchups, Twine Time also defeated JAFTPA 8-4 and Otters 17-7 to book their rematch with Oakley.
In the Pabst League division, Kuzy’s Koozies won the championship, defeating Here For The Team Showers 16-15 in the final game. Kuzy’s Koozies won four consecutive games on Sunday to advance to that championship matchup, defeating Dekes of Hazzard 13-7, Rick’s Cabaret 13-9, ClapJax 20-8 and Team Pabst 5-0. The Koozies went 3-1 in pool play.
In the Brown Bottle League division, Sunnyvale won the 2019 title via a 16-10 final game win over Carshield. Sunnyvale went undefeated on the weekend, including a 4-0 mark in pool play. On Sunday, the team outscored their final four opponents by a margin of 43-25.
In the women’s division, SofaKings won the championship, defeating MinneSorta Nice in the final game by the score of 16-6. Over their undefeated romp through the tournament, the SofaKings outscored their opponents by a total tally of 117-34.
And in the 45+ Steel Can League, the team dubbed Bend Dovers won it all via a final game 9-8 victory over Motown Mayhem. The Dovers also skated through the weekend without a loss, defeating the Oil Kings in their semifinal game 9-4.