The Aspen Leafs started their inaugural season on the road against the Breckenridge Bucks, and skated away with a decisive 7-1 win Friday night.  With a near capacity crowd at Stephen C. West Arena, the Leafs Trent Luby set the tone quickly when he buried the first goal of the new RMJHL season – a power-play tally set up by Cal Erdmann and Boston Lindlahr.  From that point on, it was the Ivan Bondarenko and Andrew Lee show.  In the second period, Bondarenko, from Moscow Russia, recorded his first hat trick of the season (3 goals in one game).  He also set up teammate Andrew Lee for two more power-play goals.  The Leafs finished the scoring late in the third period when Lee (from Tualatin, Oregon) notched his first hat trick with an unassisted short-handed goal.  

Aspen high school goaltender Anders Brucker earned the start after a solid week of practice, and stood tall in his first junior hockey game.   Brucker, who will practice and play for the Leafs until the high school season begins, made an impressive debut stopping 31 shots for the inaugural win.

Head Coach Jay Miller was pleased with his team’s overall performance and the outcome.  “Although the penalties disrupted the flow of the game, our special teams made the difference tonight with four goals (3 on the power-play, 1 shorthanded).  I’m happy to get our first win opening night on the road, and look forward to preparing for a tougher matchup tomorrow night.”  

The two teams, who quickly established the highly anticipated mountain rivalry, take the ice again Saturday night at 8:05 in Breckenridge.  The Leafs open their home schedule next Friday (October 9) at the Aspen Ice Garden when they host the Colorado Rampage. 

In other RMJHL action Friday night: the Rampage defeated the Colorado Thunderbirds 5-1 scoring three unanswered goals in the third period.  The Pikes Peak Miners scored the last four goals of the game to hand the Grand Junction Glacier Yetis a home ice loss in a 10-6 shootout.  All six RMJHL teams wrap up weekend series action Saturday night.