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Colorado Eagles

Sundogs Sweep Eagles, Win President's Cup Finals

May 9, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Arizona Sundogs knocked off the defending champion Colorado Eagles, 6-3 in Game 4 of the Central Hockey League's President's Cup Finals. The four-game sweep was the first playoff sweep for or against the Eagles in their five-year history. Arizona goaltender Rob McVicar was named Playoff MVP after posting an 11-1 record and dominating the Finals. On the other side, Bryan Bridges got his first start of the playoffs as the Eagles looked to a goalie change to change the momentum of the series.

The series' theme continued again in the first period as the Eagles out-played the Sundogs when at even strength. Unfortunately for Colorado, they spent almost half of the first 20 minutes of play in the penalty box. Steve Rymsha got the game's first goal at the 5 minute mark on Arizona's second consecutive power play when he beat Bridges from the left hash marks on a pass from Tyler Redenbach along the sideboards. The Eagles had three close calls on their man-advantage chance a few minutes later, but both Aaron Schneekloth and Ryan Tobler (twice) grazed the outside of the net with their chances from in front. Cory Urquhart tied a CHL record with his 17th goal in the playoffs (tying Greg Pankewicz, set last year) with another power-play goal at 10:14 when he beat Bridges against the right post; Jon Landry's shot had slipped past the Eagles' netminder, and he almost gloved Urquhart's goal while on his back.

A few minutes later, McVicar made another unbelievable save - another theme in the series - after Tobler made a nice play to carry the puck into and through the offensive zone before sending a pass to a pinching Erik Adams to McVicar's right. But the goaltender flashed his right pad to deny the Colorado defenseman from in close on the bang-bang play. Brad Williamson saved a goal himself on the Sundogs' fourth man-advantage opportunity of the night about 14 minutes in when, stationed behind Bridges in the crease, the defenseman stopped a sliding puck with his stick before clearing the zone. The Eagles got on the scoreboard at 16:15 on a delayed penalty call (drawn by Riley Nelson) when Jason Beatty's shot from the left point deflected off an Arizona player in the high slot and eluded McVicar, cutting the Sundogs' lead in half.

Colorado out-shot the Sundogs 21-12 in the second period, but a late goal by the CHL's leading scorer put Arizona back in the lead after Fraser Filipic's goal at 8:22 tied the score at 2. Bridges continued to keep the Eagles close with another big save 7 minutes in when he stopped a 2-on-1 break for the Sundogs, and Filipic converted his netminder's strong effort by knotting up the score just a minute and a half later. Seth Leonard threw a shot on net from the goal line to the right of McVicar and Filipic backhanded the puck in the net from the left side of the crease. Arizona proved opportunistic again, scoring on their 12th shot of the period when Alex Leavitt carried the puck down the left-wing boards, cut to the center of the ice around an Eagles defenseman and swept a shot past Bridges with just 6.7 seconds left in the period; the goal was his 29th point of the playoffs (9-20-29).

Arizona began the third period in defensive mode, but it mattered little to their offense that had been so dominant in the final frame in the playoffs. Entering the game, the Sundogs had out-scored their opponents 28-15 in the third, and had scored seven of their 16 goals in the series in the period; their offensive output continued in this one as they scored three more. Their first goal came at 3:28 after a turnover at the Eagles blue line, when Kyle Hood took a shot from between the circles that deflected off of Williamson's stick and beat Bridges 5-hole. McVicar stood on his head again a few minutes later when he stoned Nelson on a backdoor pass from Greg Pankewicz on the power-play. As the play went the other way, Redenbach skated down the left-wing boards and beat Bridges with a short-handed goal over the goaltenders' right shoulder. Sebastien Laplante then replaced Bridges after 45:39 of play. At that point, Arizona had an incredible shooting percentage of .164 in the series (21-128).

The Eagles got their final goal of the season at 16:10 when Ed McGrane chipped home a pass from Seth Leonard on the doorstep. Leavitt scored into an empty net at 17:50 to account for the final margin. The Budweiser Events Center crowd gave the home team a standing ovation for the final minute as a sign of appreciation for a successful season, and began an impromptu Eagles chant after the traditional post-game handshake.

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Central Hockey League Stories from May 9, 2008


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