The first place Durango Area Youth Hockey Association varsity team asserted its dominance over New Mexico Interscholastic Ice Hockey League foes again last weekend in El Paso, Texas.
The Devils improved their league-best record to 12-2 on the season with a two-game road sweep against Coronado. Durango (12-2) clipped the T-Birds’ wings in both contests and shut out the hosts 8-0 and 10-0. With 24 points, the Devils lead the league by six points.
Senior goalie Robby Grogan registered both shutouts in net and now leads the league with four. Landen Sill’s six goals over the weekend put him comfortably at the top of the league leaders in scoring with 24 goals. Nobody else in the NMIIHL has scored 20.
Durango came into town and took over from the opening faceoff of the first game. Joe Lawton started the Devils’ offensive outburst early with a goal in the opening minutes, and the Devils never looked back. The defense was air tight and the offense outshot the T-Birds 64-14 en route to the 8-0 whitewash win. Sill finished the game with two goals and two assists. Defenseman Eno Ulshafer continued to show off his all-around talent with two goals and an assist.
Jake Beekman also scored twice, and Nick Piccaro added one. Braden Lyons had two assists, while Jax Bayer, Clay Kinder and Everett Howland had one helper each.
The second game was even worse for the already grounded T-Birds (3-8). Sill led the way with four goals, and Gus Kidd scored three times in the 10-0 rout. Again, the all-around effort of Durango at both ends of the ice was too much for Coronado to handle. This time, Jax Bayer’s goal set the tone just shy of 2 minutes into the action, and the Devils only got stronger as the game progressed. Durango scored two in the first, three in the second and five in the third to put a exclamation point on the one-sided weekend. Beekman and Lawton also added goals in Sunday’s game. Ulshafer had three assists, and Everett Howland assisted on both hat trick goals for Kidd and Sill. Wyatt Killinen and Piccaro also had assists in the win.
Grogan, Ulshafer and the Devils’ defense will get the test they’ve been waiting for next weekend against Taos. The Ice Tigers’ offense leads the league with 79 goals, one more than the Devils’ 78. Taos sits in a tie for second place in the standings, six points behind Durango.
jfries@durangoherald.com
