The Durango/Telluride-combined Mountaineers’ Midget hockey team returned to Rocky Mountain Youth Hockey League action this weekend after a four-week holiday layoff with three games in Crested Butte.

The Mountaineers went 2-1 on the weekend with a pair of twin 7-1 victories over Grand Valley and a close 5-4 loss to unbeaten Crested Butte.

In a primer for its 8:45 p.m. Saturday showdown with the undefeated Crested Butte Wolfpack, the Mountaineers first faced Grand Valley.

The local Durango Area Youth Hockey Association team came out skating hard against the Grand Junction team.

Gabe Tonnessen charged hard into the Grand Junction zone and put the initial shot on net. Trevor Croke kept the puck alive in front of the goal, and Danny Cummins finished it off to give the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead.

The team fed off the energy of the first goal. Croke scored after a Willy Frownfelter wrist shot rebounded in front of the net, and Mason Johnston scored on a pass from Tonnessen with Max Laws providing a great screen in front of the Grand Valley goalie to give the Mountaineers a 3-0 first period lead.

Croke added his second goal 35 seconds into the second period.

Mountaineers’ goaltender Tate Hobbs earned the win in goal.

Cummins added a goal on an assist from Riggs Franklin, Croke made it a hat trick on a pass from Willy Hess, and Chad Brickey scored on an assist from Laws for the final 7-1 result.

In the nightcap against Crested Butte, Hess scored the only first-period goal on a pass from Frownfelter, and the Mountaineers led 1-0 after the first period.

Croke made it 2-0 with an unassisted goal two minutes into the second, but the Wolfpack scored three unanswered goals in five minutes and carried a 3-2 lead into the third period.

Nico Shapiro tied the game one minute into the third on a pass from Hess, but the Wolfpack again responded with a goal a minute later and again led 4-3.

With 3:51 left, Tonnessen fed Frownfelter, who skated in hard on the right side and fed a perfect pass to Hess for the game-tying goal.

The undefeated 10-0 Wolfpack, however, beat the clock with a goal with less than two minutes left to seal the 5-4 victory.

The Durango-Telluride Mountaineers (4-5-1) finished off the weekend with another 7-1 victory over Grand Valley on Sunday morning.

Croke led the way with two goals and an assist; Tonnessen, Liam Millar and Avery Valerio had a goal and an assist each; Brickey had two assists; Shapiro and Johnston each scored a goal; and Hunter Richey and Austin McMenimen had an assist each.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com