On Saturday, January 8, the Fort Collins Hockey Team beat the Resurrection Christian Cougars 2-0 in the Lambkins first game of 2022.

Collins struggled during the first two periods. The Lambkins were unable to put up consistent offense against the Cougars’ physical defense. 

Despite the slow offensive start, the game was tied at zero after 2 periods due to Fort Collins goaltender Noah Winbourn. Winbourn, a senior at Mountain View High School, was able to make several big saves to keep the game tied.

“I’m feeling confident…[the game] came down to special teams and individual skill, which I think we had the edge on them here,” Winbourn said.

The Lambkins finally broke the tie in the third period, as Fossil Ridge Junior Gabe Cramer scored the game winning goal, earning Collins their fourth victory in a row.

“It was just another shot on net, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my teammates…if it weren’t for the great passing and great awareness from our team, that goal wouldn’t have happened,” Cramer said.

However the job wasn’t done for the Lambkins yet, as they needed to kill off a two-minute penalty during the final three minutes to secure their victory. Collins rose to the occasion, not allowing a goal. 

“We’ve been working on a new penalty kill system that has a lot better flow, and it’s less tiring than a traditional system. We practiced it four times a week, so we knew it would hit the mark and work for us,” Winbourn said.

Gabe Cramer scored another goal on the empty net after the Cougars pulled their goaltender, sealing the victory for the Lambkins. 

This game meant so much to the players of both these teams, as the two schools are so close together and play at the same ice rink. Many of the players even play together on the same club teams and are close with each other. This connection was shown as players from both Collins and Resurrection participated in a prayer circle at the end of the game.

“I know a lot of the kids on their team…I grew up with a lot of them playing Junior Eagles. It’s a game and you’re supposed to be competitive but you always have to remember you’re playing hockey and trying to have fun…it gets heated but at the end of the day everyone’s just trying to be a good sport,” Winbourn said.

Fort Collins will play back to back home games on January 21 and 22 against Ralston Valley and Standley Lake. Both games will be available to watch on the FC Hockey TV YouTube channel.

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