YOUR AD HERE »

Cutthroats at home in Aspen

Dale Strode
The Aspen Times
Sean Zimmerman, of the Denver Cutthroats, works the puck up the ice against the defense of Tulsa's Ben Gordon on Friday night at the Lewis Ice Arena in Aspen. The two Central Hockey League teams will play at 6 p.m. again today.
Hector Acevedo/Denver Cutthroats |

The Denver Cutthroats made themselves right at home in Aspen — thank you very much.

The Cutthroats scored a pair of second-period power-play goals Friday night en route to an historic 4-2 victory over the Tulsa Oilers in the first Central Hockey League game ever played in Aspen.

Playing before a large and engaged crowd at the Lewis Ice Arena, the Denver-based minor league hockey club picked up a legion of fans in Aspen when the Cutthroats scored three consecutive goals after Tulsa had scored the game’s first goal.



Tulsa’s Michel Beausoleil tapped in a goal from the crease, assisted by Todd Robinson and Adam Piskach, midway through the opening period.

The Cutthroats tied the game a minute later on a slap shot rocket by T.J. Fox (assisted by Aaron MacKenzie).




Vincent Arseneau put the Cutthroats ahead in the second period with the first of his two goals — a power-play score, assisted by Daniel Moriarty.

Troy Schaub pushed Denver’s lead to 3-1 when he scored on the Cutthroats power play. Steve Kaunisto provided the assist as the Denver Cutthroats took a 3-1 lead into the final period.

In the third, Arseneau scored again and Blair Macaulay scored the second goal for the Oilers.

Kent Patterson was in goal for the Cutthroats’ victory.

The Denver Cutthroats improved to 15-9-6 (36 points) while Tulsa fell to 16-16-2 (34 points), dropping out of a fifth-place tie with the Cutthroats in the CHL.

The two teams will play again at 6 p.m. today at the Lewis Ice Arena in Aspen.

dstrode@aspentimes.com