Sports stats

CHL Colorado Eagles

Brahmas Win Ray Miron President's Cup

May 6, 2009 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas - The Colorado Eagles dropped Game 5 of the Central Hockey League's Ray Miron President's Cup Finals, 6-2, to the Texas Brahmas, giving the Brahmas their first CHL championship with a 4-to-1 series win. It marked the second time in as many years that the Eagles lost in the Finals and handed Head Coach Dan Wildfong his first title in just his second year behind the bench.

Despite out-shooting the Brahmas 40-27, Colorado lost the special teams battle -- and eventually the game -- as Texas went 4-for-7 on the power play and shut down the Eagles on five of their six chances. Coupled with another strong second period for Texas, that special teams outcome was too much for the Governors' Cup champions to overcome.

With their season -- and President's Cup hopes -- on the line, the Eagles came out flying in the first period. Colorado out-shot Texas 15-9 and opened the scoring for the second game in a row. But Texas matched the Eagles' power-play goal with one of their own to take a 1-1 tie into the first intermission -- also for the second game in a row.

Ed McGrane -- who else -- got the Eagles' first goal at 3:22 when Aaron Schneekloth sent a pass from the left point to a wide open McGrane low in the right circle for a shot into a yawning cage. The score marked McGrane's seventh power-play goal of the playoffs -- matching his total from 64 regular season games -- and gave him six of the Eagles' past seven scores overall.

The Brahmas evened the score with a power-play marker of their own at 10:39, on their third shot of the game. Craig Minard sent a shot on net from the high slot and the rebound eventually made its way to Jason Deitsch (Texas' leading scorer) at the right side of the crease. It was his second power-play goal -- and third overall -- in as many nights.

The second period -- unfortunately for Colorado -- was a replay of the previous night's second frame as Texas put up four goals (matching a franchise record for goals against in a playoff period) to out-score the Eagles 4-1.

Three of Texas' four second period goals came on the power play as the Brahmas improved to 4-for-5 on the night, and the first three scores came within the first 7:25 of the period. Brandon Benedict got the scoring spree started quickly when he beat Andrew Penner 5-hole just 30 seconds into the second frame to give the Southern Conference champs the lead.

And just 22 seconds later things started to snowball for the Eagles when Erik Adams was called for a hook. Deitsch then made them pay with his second power-play goal of the game just 15 seconds into the man-advantage. His score -- again from the right side of the crease -- was made possible after Scott Sheppard was left alone for an uncontested shot from between the circles and the rebound was kicked aside.

Then at 7:25, Jordan Cameron made it 4-1 with a beautiful, individual play as he skated the puck into the offensive zone and stickhandled through the slot before moving the puck from a toe-drag to his backhand for a top-shelf tally.

Colorado was able to cut that score in half with a 4-on-4 goal at 9:51 when Riley Nelson found Schneekloth crashing the slot with a pass from below the goal line. The Eagles defenseman then skated to the right side of the net before getting a backhand goal of his own. But at 18:40 the Brahmas got their fourth goal of the period -- and fourth power-play goal of the night -- when Grant Jacobsen sent a rocket from the left circle that beat Penner up high.

For the second game in a row, Morgan Cey started the third period in net for Colorado. The Eagles threw 13 shots on net -- compared to seven for Texas -- in the final frame, but they couldn't score against the Brahmas who had gone into defensive mode. And with two and a half minutes left, Deitsch accounted for the final margin with an empty-net goal (giving him a hat trick and securing his place as the 2009 Playoff MVP).

Check out the Colorado Eagles Statistics



Central Hockey League Stories from May 6, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Colorado Eagles Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central