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Reorganized Blue Goose hosts Massacre today

Jason Starr

BRECKENRIDGE – The more the Gentlemen of the Blue Goose Rugby Club changes, the more it stays the same.

With both club president Doug Rowe and head coach Owen Rutledge departing the team this year, the Blue Goose returned to what it’s done in the past to fill the void.

Goose veteran Buck Goroski returned to the office of president after a two-year hiatus, and the club went back to a player-coach scenario, which they’ll employ at the 28th Annual St. Valentine’s Day Massacre today at Carter Park.



Rowe, who served as president for more than a year, left Summit County to further his elite-level rugby career. Goroski had been club president in the past and figured he’d get the job back when Rowe left town.

“I knew it was going to happen,” Goroski said. “There’s no one else on the team that would step up and do it.”



Twenty teams will flood Carter Park today for a full day of snowy rugby action. The Blue Goose has games at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:50 p.m. The finals are scheduled for 4 p.m. There will also be an old-timers’ game (about 40 and older) at 1:30 p.m.

The Blue Goose has many players pushing old-timer status. Alex Agre, Bobby Craig, Charles Leonard and Russ Backhouse may play in the 1:30 p.m. game.

“Their playing days are coming close to the end,” Goroski said of the team’s veterans.

But the Goose need Agre and Backhouse for their regular games – Backhouse will be the team’s player-coach for the tournament.

With Rutledge gone to California, the Blue Goose is looking to two Englishmen to fill the coaching void for the regular summer season. Andrew Hubert and Nick Bridge played with the team last summer and will return to be player-coaches this summer.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre is the biggest fund-raiser of the year for the Blue Goose. Spectators are encouraged to take in the action.

The Summit Girls Rugby Club will not participate for the first time in several years, Goroski said. The festivities wrap up at the Gold Pan Saloon on Main Street in Breckenridge.


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