Eagles Beat Scorpions in Shootout
December 23, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release
LOVELAND, Colo. - On a night when the Eagles celebrated their President's Cup championship by receiving their rings in a special ceremony after the game, they played with championship resolve in their 3-2 shootout victory over the New Mexico Scorpions. Trailing heading into the third, Colorado continued to shoot the puck on Scorpions' goaltender, Mike Minard, finally wearing him down at the end of the game.
Riley Nelson got the Eagles on the board first just 1:44 in, padding his impressive statistics against the Scorpions; he was the Eagles' all-time leading scorer against New Mexico with 24 goals, 27 assists, 51 points and a plus/minus of 25 coming into the game. Scott Polaski sent Nelson into the offensive zone with a diagonal pass through neutral ice. Nelson broke in wide open, cut to the middle of the ice and fired the puck past Mike Minard from the high slot. The Scorpions' leading scorer (and former Eagle), Konrad Reeder, tied the game at one at 8:07 when he poked the puck into the goal after it trickled through Marco Emond. Emond argued for goalie interference on the play, but the goal stood. And at 14:53, Chris Robertson scored a power play goal from the top of the right circle to put New Mexico up 2-1. The Eagles thought they had the game tied up at 16:45, but a goalie interference call went against them for the second time in the period when their power play goal was waived off -- the official ruled that Greg Pankewicz had interfered with Minard. The power play opportunity would end without a goal, extending Colorado's man-advantage slump to 0-17.
Both teams failed to score during the second, but it wasn't for a lack of quality chances. Colorado fired 15 shots on Minard, but he made two huge saves in the period to keep it 2-1. His first stellar save came at 10:15 when he was down-and-out. Mike Lukajic threw a backhander from the left circle toward the empty net and Minard managed to swallow it up with his arm against the ice. Later in the period, Minard struck again with the Eagles on another power play. Fraser Filipic, positioned on the doorstep, knocked a fluttering puck out of mid-air, but it went right into the goalie's glove. After going 0-2 in the period, the Eagles' power play slump stretched to an incredible 0-19.
The Eagles again failed to cash in on the power play in the third, leaving them 0 for their last 20 chances, and they continued to just miss getting the puck past Minard. But with just 39 seconds left, Colorado finally broke through to tie the game at two. Seth Leonard picked up the puck in the right circle, skated toward the blue line to find some space, circled around in the high slot and threw a shot that beat the Scorpions goalie on the glove side. The goal came with the Eagles 5-on-4, but didn't count as a power play goal because the extra attacker was on the ice due to Emond being pulled. The game would remain tied at two and the Eagles would head to overtime for the sixth time this season.
With neither team scoring in the overtime period, the game went to a shootout -- Colorado's fourth of the year. Polaski was the first shooter, and he beat Minard with a great leg-kick fake and a shot top shelf, glove side. But Reeder answered with a goal of his own, fooling Emond badly. Reeder approached the goal wide left, faked a move to his right and made a quick cut back to his left to get Emond moving; the goalie was halfway across the crease before Reeder deposited the puck into the empty half of the net. Leonard and Dominic Osman -- the third shooters for each club -- also scored to make it two for three for each team. New Mexico's Tim Vitek scored on his chance, beating Emond stick side, and the game came down to Brad Williamson as the fifth shooter for the Eagles. Williamson beat Minard high on the stick side to force another round of shooters and Lukajic ended the game by snapping a shot under the Scorpions keeper.
The Eagles will look to make it seven home wins in a row when they take on the division-leading Rocky Mountain Rage on Wednesday, December 26.
Central Hockey League Stories from December 23, 2007
- Sundogs' Pietroniro to Coach Southern Conference All-Stars - Arizona Sundogs
- Sundogs Send Pietroniro to All-Star Game with 8-1 Win - Arizona Sundogs
- Rocky Mountain Rage Weekly Update - Rocky Mountain Rage
- Eagles Beat Scorpions in Shootout - Colorado Eagles
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