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Eagles Stave off Bull Rush in 7-6 Shootout Win

October 6, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL) Colorado Eagles

LOVELAND, Colo. - Hockey was back at the Budweiser Events Center Friday night as the Colorado Eagles played their first and only preseason game before beginning their 10th anniversary season starts next Friday. In their first ever meeting against the expansion San Francisco Bulls, the Eagles built a 5-0 lead, only to see the Bulls score six unanswered in a game that Colorado eventually won in a shootout, 7-6.

The Eagles out-scored the Bulls 4-0 in the opening period, winning the special teams battle by going 2-for-4 on the power play and killing both of the Bulls' man-advantage chances. Rookie defenseman Arthur Bidwill notched both of Colorado's power-play goals after not scoring a single goal in four seasons at Colorado College (51 games).

Bidwill got the scoring started at 2:02 with a one-timer from the right dot off a feed from Gabe Gauthier (a rival University of Denver alumnus) behind the net on the Eagles' first power play of the period. Colorado went up 2-0 at 5:24 of the first frame following a faceoff win in the right circle of the offensive zone. Trent Daavettila won the draw and then Jack Combs wristed the puck into the top left corner of the net from the point.

Just under two minutes later, Daavettila made it 3-0 by finishing a pretty play made possible when Michael Forney picked up a loose puck at the offensive blue line. Forney took the puck down the left wing and sent a back-hand, saucer pass into the low slot where Daavettila batted it home.

Exactly five minutes later, Bidwill picked up his second power-play tally of the first period with a bomb from the right point. That goal chased Taylor Nelson from the Bulls' cage; he stopped 11 of 15 shots in 12:20 of action. San Francisco picked up their play after that, aided by receiving both of their first period power plays in the final three and a half minutes of the frame.

The Bulls built on that momentum in the second period -- in which they out-shot the Eagles 13-6 -- but not before Colorado added to their lead with a fluky goal. At 1:47, Teegan Moore skated down the right wing wall and sent an innocent-looking backhander toward the net that deflected off of defenseman Trevor Hendrikx' skate and inside the far post.

Jordan Morrison, however, got the Bulls on the board at 7:49, by beating Adam Brown along the ice from the left circle to make it 5-1. And just under 13 minutes into the frame, Chris Frank got the Bulls' second consecutive score when his shot from the left point deflected off of defenseman Eric Tallent's stick and past Aaron Dell, who had replaced Brown in the Eagles' net just under two minutes earlier. Morrison made it 3-5 with his second goal of the period at 18:16 when he swept home a power-play tally from the left side of the crease.

The Bulls continued to mount their comeback when an un-checked Dean Ouellet cut Colorado's lead to 5-4 two minutes into the third period with goal from the doorstep. And at 8:31, Justin Bowers tied the game when he sped down the right wing and beat Dell, 5-hole, with a shot from atop the right circle.

San Francisco took their first lead of the game when Peter Sivak scored their sixth unanswered goal just under three minutes later by snapping a shot past the Eagles' goalie. But just 21 seconds later, Bidwill capped off his strong night with his third goal of the game, knotting the score back up at 6.

The teams would end regulation tied at 6, and when neither found the back of the net in the five minute overtime period, the game went to a shootout to be decided. In the shootout, three of the five Eagles shooters beat Chris Venti, while Dell stopped three of the four San Francisco shooters. Daavettila was credited with the game-winner.

The Eagles will open the regular season on Oct. 12 & 13 with a pair of home games against the Alaska Aces.

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