(online from the AspenTimes.com HERE)

by Dale Strode, Aspen Times Sports Editor

Back on the hockey road. 

The Aspen Leafs 20U junior hockey team will hit the road this week for another round of Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League games on Friday and Saturday. 

The Leafs will take on the Colorado Rampage in Denver this weekend. 

The Aspen Leafs split a two-game series last weekend against the Breckenridge Bucks. 

Playing in front of the largest home crowd of the season at the Aspen Ice Garden, the Aspen Leafs skated in a thriller against the Bucks on Friday night. 

With a large contingent of Aspen High School fans to cheer for the Leafs’ Charlie Van Allen, the Aspen junior hockey team staged a furious comeback Friday night after falling behind the Bucks 3-0. 

The Leafs responded with goals from Andrew Lee, Van Allen and Ivan Bondarenko, the young standout from Moscow, Russia. 

Van Allen’s goal, right in front of his AHS classmates, brought a huge ovation from the fans. 

But the Bucks held on for a tight 4-3 victory on Friday night at the Aspen Ice Garden. 

On Saturday, the Aspen Leafs got back on the winning track with a 5-1 victory over Breckenridge, improving Aspen to 10-2-0 in the inaugural season of the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League. 

Trent Luby had a hat trick with all three goals coming on the power play for the Avs. 

Lee also scored his 18th goal of the season to lead all Aspen scorers. 

Bondarenko scored a goal and had four assists in the Aspen Leafs victory. 

Goaltender Anders Brucker, an Aspen native, stopped 79 shots over the weekend split. He also earned his league-leading sixth goaltending victory of the season. 

The Aspen Leafs will return to Aspen for games Nov. 20 and Nov. 21 against the Colorado Thunderbirds at the Aspen Ice Garden.