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Colorado Eagles

Colorado Eagles Weekly Update

April 4, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


WINDSOR, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles announced today their playoff roster for the upcoming CHL playoffs. Each team in the Ray Miron Presidents' Cup playoffs is allowed to carry 19 players, as well as an emergency goalie and up to two amateur players that can be added at any time. The Eagles' playoff roster is listed below.

Colorado will begin its playoff season against the Quad City Mallards in the opening round of the playoffs on Friday, April 1 at the Budweiser Events Center (7:05 MST).

Colorado Eagles 2011 Playoff Roster

SKATERS

Jason Beatty (D)

Adam Chorneyko (F)

Matt Glasser (F)

Joe Grimaldi (D)

Steve Haddon (F)

A.J. Hau (F)

Adam Hogg (F)

Scott May (F)

Riley Nelson (F)

Alex Penner (F)

Kyle Peto (D)

Daymen Rycroft (F)

Aaron Schneekloth (D)

Dan Sullivan (F)

Brett Thurston (D)

Kevin Ulanski (F)

Kip Workman (D)

GOALTENDERS

Kyle Jones

Andrew Penner

Monday, March 28; Riley Nelson Named CHL's Most Valuable Player

WINDSOR, Colo. - What his peers and opposing coaches across the league have felt for the past three seasons has finally been "officially" recognized -- that Colorado Eagles captain Riley Nelson is the best player in the Central Hockey League. The Eagles' all-time leading scorer has been voted the CHL's MVP for the first time after being voted by his peers as the league's "Best Overall Player" (in the league's annual Best of the Best poll) and also being named to the All-CHL Team (compiled by league coaches) in each of the past three seasons.

Nelson becomes the second Eagles player to win the CHL's MVP award in as many seasons (Kevin Ulanski won last season), and the third member of the franchise to be so honored in eight seasons of existence (Greg Pankewicz won in 2004-05). The team captain finished the season fourth in the league's scoring race and led all players in plus/minus with a career-high +40. He also led the Eagles in special teams points (32) and multi-point games (30).

The CHL's MVP is awarded annually to the player "adjudged to be the most valuable to his team" as determined through balloting of the league's coaches, communications staff members and select media from local markets. Nelson earned votes on 25 of the 60 ballots, winning the award comfortably ahead of Missouri's Robby Nolan (15 votes).

Tuesday, March 29; Eagles, Pedersen Toyota & Wilbur's Total Beverage to Donate $30,000 to Breast Cancer Fund

LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles, Pedersen Toyota and Wilbur's Total Beverage will be presenting a $30,000 check to the Wilbur's Fund for Women with Breast Cancer during the second intermission of the Eagles' playoff game at the Budweiser Events Center on Friday, April 1.

The Wilbur's Fund for Women with Breast Cancer provides women in Northern Colorado with funds to help aid in their fight with breast cancer, ranging from groceries, to prescriptions to other everyday bills.

Each of the local companies raised a portion of the overall total last October during national Breast Cancer Awareness month. The money raised by the Eagles came via an auction of game-worn, specialty pink jerseys and a portion of replica jersey sales. Pedersen Toyota's portion comes from a percentage of their overall sales during the entire month of October. And Wilbur's Total Beverage will be donating 100% of their sales from Oct. 10.

Friday, April 1; No Foolin'...Mallards Come Back for Game 1 Win

LOVELAND, Colo. - In their first ever visit to the Budweiser Events Center, the Quad City Mallards scored four unanswered goals to claim a 4-3 overtime win against the Colorado Eagles in Game 1 of the Central Hockey League's Turner Conference Opening Round best-of-5 series.

The Eagles out-shot the Mallards 18-7 in the first period -- aided by a 5:1 power play ratio -- but they couldn't get a puck past David Brown and the Quad City defense.

Things tightened up in the second period, as the Eagles out-shot the Mallards 8-5, but Colorado was able to find the back of the net on a quarter of their shots to take a 2-0 lead into the third period. Matt Glasser got the game's opening goal at 14:05 of the second stanza when he slammed home a shot into the top left corner of the cage from the hash marks.

A minute after Colorado broke the stalemate, Kyle Jones kept them on top by stopping Joe Blaznek on a 2-on-1 break. And with just 54 seconds left in the second frame, Kevin Ulanski circled behind the net and set up regular season MVP Riley Nelson for a goal from between the hash marks.

The Eagles stretched their lead to 3-0 at 8:13 of the third period when Dan Sullivan took a turnover in the neutral zone and sent a pass to Adam Chorneyko entering the offensive zone. The CHL All-Rookie Team forward performed a toe-drag before sending a pin-point shot into the top left corner -- knocking the water bottle off the top of the net -- on a beautiful goal.

But the Mallards stormed back with three unanswered goals -- the final coming with just seconds left -- to force the game into overtime. Obi Aduba got Quad City's first goal at 13:03 on a goal that was initially waved off by referee Travis Smith when Aaron Schneekloth swept the puck off the goal line. The goal judge, however, had turned on the goal light, leading to a conference that ended up with the Mallards getting on the board.

Less than a minute later, Zac Pearson trimmed Colorado's lead to 3-2 when his shot from the right point made it through traffic and past Jones. With momentum fully in the Mallards' favor, Eric Giosa knotted the score at 3 from the low slot with just 7.8 seconds left in regulation as Quad City worked with an extra attacker.

Quad City was called for two separate penalties early in the overtime period, giving Colorado several consecutive minutes to work with an extra man, including 1:03 of a 5-on-3 advantage. However, the Eagles' power play again couldn't convert -- making it 0-for-8 on the night -- and the Mallards struck as Zac Pearson exited the penalty box to form a 3-on-0 rush that Brandon Marino converted into a game-winning goal at 4:50 of the overtime session.

Saturday, April 2; Eagles Even Series With Comeback, OT Win of Their Own

LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles evened their opening round Central Hockey League playoff series against the Quad City Mallards with a 5-4, overtime victory in Game 2 of the best-of-5 series. It marked the second night in a row that the winning team came back from behind to force overtime before winning the game early in the extra session.

Quad City struck first with a power-play goal at 5:20 of the first period when LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles evened their opening round Central Hockey League playoff series against the Quad City Mallards with a 5-4, overtime victory in Game 2 of the best-of-5 series. It marked the second night in a row that the winning team came back from behind to force overtime before winning the game early in the extra session. Quad City struck first with a power-play goal at 5:20 of the first period when Adam Maccarone's shot from the point deflected past Kyle Jones. The Mallards stretched their lead to 2-0 at 10:53 when Jake Riddle dug the puck out of a scrum in the left corner and carried it behind the net for a wraparound attempt. His try didn't go in, but the rebound went right to Joel Gasper for an easy tally from the doorstep.

Colorado, however, countered just 21 seconds later, trimming the Mallards' lead in half with their first goal of the game. Following an odd bounce off the endboards, the puck came back out into the slot where Daymen Rycroft was able to collect it and snap it past David Brown.

The second period scoring mirrored the first's, sending the Mallards into the third period with a 4-2 lead. Quad City made it 3-1 at 2:33 of the frame when Tyler Shelast got past the Eagles defense along the left wing and found Eric Giosa with a centering pass into the slot. That goal chased Jones from the net after the former Mallard stopped just seven of 10 shots in 22:33 of action.

Andrew Penner took Jones' place in net for the Eagles and helped swing the momentum two minutes later by making a series of saves from in close that earned a huge roar from the home crowd.

Colorado got back within a goal at 15:14 when Riley Nelson scored a power-play goal. On the play, Kevin Ulanski's shot from the high slot was blocked by teammate Dan Sullivan on the doorstep, but the puck bounced right to Nelson who cleaned up the rebound. However, at 18:30, Zac Pearson took advantage of a turnover deep in the Eagles' own zone to beat Penner from in close, giving the Mallards a 2-goal lead heading into the second break.

The Eagles came out flying in the third, playing their best period of the playoffs and out-shooting the Mallards 19-6. The effort was so dominating that the sellout crowd showed their appreciation by giving the team a standing ovation 12 minutes into the third when shots were 11-2.

Prior to that, the team had tied the game at 4 with goals by Nelson and Joe Grimaldi. Nelson's goal -- his second of the game and third in two nights -- came 1:57 in after a faceoff win in the left circle of the offensive zone. Ulanski controlled the puck and worked it back to the left point where Jason Beatty's shot deflected off of Aaron Schneekloth and bounced to the league MVP for a shot into a gaping net from the right circle.

Penner continued to keep the Eagles in the game moments later by stopping a 3-on-2 rush and another odd-man break at 4:45. Coming back off the latter stop, the play moved the other way 3-on-3 and Grimaldi laced a shot from two feet inside the blue line that beat Brown over his right shoulder to knot the score at 4. Despite continued quality pressure, Colorado couldn't score again in the period, forcing overtime for the second night in a row.

The Mallards had an early burst in overtime, but Penner made a glove save on an off-speed puck 16 seconds in on the only shot Quad City would get in the extra time. That's because 62 seconds into the frame, Rycroft put home his own rebound from the low slot after the Eagles won a faceoff in the right circle of their offensive zone.

The Week Ahead

Tuesday, April 5 (Game 3) & Wednesday, April 6 (Game 4); Eagles Head to Quad City With Series Tied After Two Games

The Eagles and Mallards head to the i wireless Center for Games 3 & 4 of their knotted-up best-of-five playoff series. Each team came from behind to claim an overtime victory in the first two games of the opening round series. All three of the regular season series games between the two teams were played in Quad City, with the Eagles going 1-2-0.

*IF NECESSARY* - Saturday, April 9 (Game 5); Eagles Would Look to Advance With Win on Home Ice

If the series is still tied up after four games, it will shift back to the Budweiser Events Center for a deciding match-up that will send the winning team onto the Turner Conference Semifinals.

Notable Numbers

STREAKLY SPEAKING - The Eagles overtime win on Saturday ended an unbelievable string of eight consecutive playoff losses, dating back to March 3, 2009 (Game 3 of the Presidents' Cup Finals against the Texas Brahmas); their previous playoff win also came via a 5-4 overtime victory in the second game of a series. The Eagles will be looking to break another ominous streak on Tuesday as they've lost seven straight playoff games on the road, dating back to April 23, 2009 (a double-overtime loss to Mississippi in Game 4 of the Northern Conference Finals). In their history, the Eagles' longest losing streak overall and on the road in the regular season is just four and five games respectively.

MORE OF THE SAME - Riley Nelson has carried over his MVP-winning performance from the regular season to lead the team through two games in the playoffs. The team captain has three goals, four points, a +3 plus/minus a power-play goal and a .600 shooting percentage (all tops on the team). His three-point night on Saturday also pushed him past 100 career playoff points as an Eagle. The team's all-time leading scorer (in both the regular season and playoffs) has accumulated 101 points (40-61-101) by playing in each of the franchise's 94 playoff games.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT - The first two games of the Eagles/Mallards series have bucked the statistical trends set through the regular season for Colorado. The team that's scored first and held the lead after the second period has lost each game. Through the 66-game regular season, the Eagles were 33-4-2 when scoring first and 31-3-1 when leading after two periods of play. The Mallards, however, were probably right in their comfort zone as they came from behind to win in 19 of their 34 regular season victories (56%).

SHOOTING GALLERY - The Eagles out-shot the Mallards 105-64 in three regular season games at the i wireless Center (an average of 13.6 more shots-per-game), and they've even increased that pace through two playoff games at the Budweiser Events Center, out-shooting Quad City 83-52 (15.5 shots-per-game). Colorado put up 18 shots in the first period of Game 1 and 19 shots in the third period of Game 2, helping them to a CHL playoff-best average of 41.5 shots-per-game. The Mallards, on the other hand, have the second-lowest average of just 26 shots-per-game. During the regular season, the Eagles ranked second with 34.6 shots-per-game, while Quad City ranked 15th with 29.5.

DUCK HUNTER - Goaltender Andrew Penner relieved Kyle Jones in net midway through Saturday night's overtime victory and helped the Eagles to the comeback win by stopping 13 of 14 shots. In his lone game against the Mallards during the regular season, Penner stopped 23 of 24 shots in the team's only win against Quad City during the three-game regular season series. Combined, Penner is 2-0 with a GAA of 1.22 and a SV% of .947.

ALL-TIME, ALL THE TIME - Andrew Penner is the Eagles' all-time leader in regular season wins (63), and on Saturday, he became the first netminder in team history to reach double-digits in playoff victories. With 10 wins, he can now claim the title of playoff wins leader as well, as he broke out of a tie with Presidents' Cup-winning goalies Marco Emond and Paulo Colaiacovo.

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Central Hockey League Stories from April 4, 2011


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