ECHL Colorado Eagles

Colorado Eagles Weekly Update

March 5, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles of the ECHL announced today that goaltender Robby Nolan has been returned from loan to the AHL's Houston Aeros. He served as the back-up goalie in each of the Aeros' games last week. In a related move, Morgan Cey has been released as the team's emergency goaltender.

Tuesday, February 28; Ulanski Named Sher-Wood Hockey ECHL Player of the Week

(LEAGUE RELEASE) - PRINCETON, N.J. - Kevin Ulanski of the Colorado"ˆEagles is the Sher-Wood Hockey ECHL Player of the Week for Feb. 20-26.

Wednesday, February 29; Jon Landry Signs AHL Contract

LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles of the ECHL announced today that defenseman Jon Landry, who began the season with the team before being loaned to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL, has signed a standard players contract with the Sound Tigers. He is the second player who began the season with the Eagles to sign an AHL contract (Jack Combs signed with the Worcester Sharks).

Thursday, March 1; Sides is AMI Graphics ECHL Plus Performer of the Month for February

(LEAGUE RELEASE) - PRINCETON, N.J. - Colorado Eagles forward Joey Sides is the AMI"ˆGraphics ECHL"ˆPlus Performer of the Month for February after leading the league with a plus-minus rating of +13.

Friday, February 24; Ulanski named Reebok Hockey ECHL Player of the Month

(LEAGUE RELEASE) - PRINCETON, N.J. - Colorado Eagles right wing Kevin Ulanski is the Reebok Hockey ECHL Player of the Month for February.

Friday, February 24; Forney Loaned to AHL's Stars as Part of IceCaps Trade

LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles, proud affiliate of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets & the AHL's St. John's IceCaps, announced today that forward Michael Forney has been loaned to the AHL's Texas Stars as part of a trade by the IceCaps.

Friday, March 2; Ulanski Leads Comeback Victory; Eagles One Point Away From Playoffs

LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles defeated the Bakersfield Condors, 5-4, moving within a single point of a playoff berth. After surrendering four straight goals to the Condors, Kevin Ulanski scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the final five minutes of the final frame to fuel the Eagles' comeback.

Saturday, March 3; Condors Delay Eagles' Playoff Berth With 6-3 Win

LOVELAND, Colo. - The Bakersfield Condors doubled up the Colorado Eagles, 6-3, denying them a playoff berth for at least a few more days. Bryan Pitton stopped 35 of 38 shots in the game, helping Bakersfield to its first win at the Budweiser Events Center and keeping his team's playoff hopes alive in the process.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday, March 6 & Wednesday, March 7; Eagles Look To Distance Themselves From Thunder

Colorado enters the week just one point shy of its 9th playoff berth in as many seasons of existence, and it can get that point in front of its home crowd by taking at least one of this week's games against the Stockton Thunder into overtime. Of course, winning both games is always the plan, especially since the Thunder are just five points behind the Eagles in the Western Conference and if the playoffs ended today, the teams would square-off in the opening round. Colorado and Stockton have played wide-open, entertaining games all season, with the Eagles holding a slight edge in the season series at 4-3-0.

Friday, March 9 & Saturday, March 10; Colorado Looks to Close Gap on Alaska

The Eagles open a five-game series against the team with the ECHL's best record, the defending champion Alaska Aces. The first two games will be in Alaska as they close out their home schedule for the season before ending March with 10 straight road games -- beginning with three at the BEC next week. Alaska is a different team away from home, where they are just 10-10-7 this season. If the Eagles fare well against the Aces, they can close the gap in the standings and possibly increase their odds of maintaining that home ice advantage in the playoffs.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

MARCH MADNESS - The Eagles will be taking part in their own style of March Madness during the regular season's busy final month. Colorado will play a total of 17 games in the 31 days of March; that breaks down to a game every 1.8 days! They'll play four games in five days this week when they host Stockton on Tuesday & Wednesday, then play in Alaska Friday & Saturday.

ONE POINT AWAY - Three teams have already clinched a playoff berth, and Colorado could become the fourth when they secure their next point or the next time Bakersfield fails to win a game. The Eagles play Stockton Tuesday & Wednesday, while the Condors play in Idaho Wednesday, Friday & Saturday.

DOWN THE HOME STRETCH - Although this week's games against Stockton will wrap up the Eagles' seven-game homestand -- their longest of the season -- they'll still have plenty of games left at the Budweiser Events Center this month. That's because Colorado will play a total of nine games at home in March -- their most in any month this season -- including five more after this week.

CAN YOU HEAR THE THUNDER? - Stockton is right on Colorado's heels entering the week, just five points behind the Eagles in the Western Conference standings. If that doesn't make this week's set of games important enough, the fact that these teams would meet in the first round of the playoffs if the season ended today should. So far in the season series, Colorado is 4-3-0 against the Thunder, including 3-1-0 at the BEC.

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE - If the Eagles have any hope of securing the Western Conference's top seed, they'll need to take advantage of their upcoming five-game set against the defending champion Aces. Colorado enters the week 15 points behind Alaska, but could make up a lot of ground on the team with the ECHL's best record, especially if they can take advantage of the Aces' struggles away from Sullivan Arena where they're just 10-10-7 on the year.

BOTH ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM - The Eagles have forged an identity of playing wide open offensively -- sometimes at the expense of their defense -- in their first season in the ECHL. Colorado leads the league with 3.72 goals/game, but they also rank 19th out of 20 teams by allowing an average of 3.51 goals/game. Colorado's defense has struggled even more lately, surrendering an average of 4.75 goals over their past eight games. Thirteen of the 38 goals they've allowed in that span (34%) have come while killing penalties. It should be noted that nine of those goals came in the crazy shootout loss to Ontario, six of which were power-play tallies.

GAINING ON McGRANE - Kevin Ulanski has been on fire of late, earning ECHL Player of the Month honors for February & ECHL Player of the Week honors in the final week of that month. He's also riding a seven-game point streak that includes the third-best goal streak in team history (six games including eight goals). His surge has him with two points of tying Ed McGrane for 4th place on the Eagles' all-time points list. Ulanski has accumulated 344 points (115-230-345) in just 234 games.

OTHER HAPPENINGS

Mile High Sports TV - Tune into this month's episode of Mile High Sports TV on Altitude Sports & Entertainment to catch an interview with Chris Stewart.

7News Feature - As the Official News & Weather Station of the Colorado Eagles, 7News has increased their coverage and part of that includes monthly features on their Sports Xtra program.

Pepsi 4-Pack - This Wednesday is another Pepsi Family 4-Pack night, meaning that for just $80, you can get 4 Tickets, 4 Hotdogs & 4 Drinks...be sure to take advantage of this great deal and bring the family out to a game!

Baby Races - Is your child just 7-12 months old and only crawling? If so, enter them in the upcoming annual Kid's Haven Baby Races on March 27th. Watch the following video for more info, and register your baby at Guest Services at one of this week's games or email info@coloradoeagles.com.

Check out the Colorado Eagles Statistics



ECHL Stories from March 5, 2012


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