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CHL Colorado Eagles

Eagles Head Onto Road With Win

January 27, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles doubled-up the Amarillo Gorillas, 6-3, tonight in the third straight meeting between the two teams. With the victory, the Eagles overtook the Rapid City Rush for first place in the Northern Conference. Colorado now hits the road for a season-high tying seven-game road trip.

The first period saw tempers flare as the teams skated on the same slab for the third time in five days. Jason Beatty, Fraser Filipic and Alex Penner all dropped the gloves -- and came out on the better end -- against Jason Beeman, Chris Cloud and Neil Smith respectively.

When the teams weren't trading punches, they were trading goals. Andrew Smale got the scoring started at 3:36 after a turnover in the right corner allowed Austin Sutter to hit Smale with a quick pass in the slot. But the Eagles countered exactly 30 seconds later when Ed McGrane used his speed to create what amounted to a penalty shot from the blue line in before beating Tuomas Lohtander with a forehand move.

Both teams scored a power-play goal in the second period, but the Eagles also added an even-strength score to take a 3-2 lead into the third frame. Smale picked up his second goal of the game at 3:19 when his blast from the left point made it through a screen in front of Mike Mole and into the back of the net.

Jay Birnie tied the game up at 2 with a highlight-reel backhander just under three minutes later when he placed the puck into the top left corner from the right slot. Things kept going the Eagles' way midway through the period when Mole stopped a shorthanded rush for Amarillo that sprung Colorado on their own the other way. Jim Jackson sent a backhand, saucer pass from the right wing to the left, where Ryan Tobler beat Lohtander over his right shoulder to make it 3-2.

The Eagles added three more in the third to run away with the game, starting with Riley Nelson netting what turned out to be the game-winner at 5:37. On the play, Tobler took the puck down the left wing and dished it to Kevin Ulanski in the circle. The rebound from his shot went off of Lohtander's leg pad and arced into the air where Nelson swatted it home from 10 feet in front of the net with a spinning swing.

Brett Lutes then made it 5-2 just over a minute later when he converted a cross-slot pass from McGrane with a one-timer. Stuart MacRae -- Amarillo's leading scorer -- cut the home team's lead back down to two with under two minutes left in the game by capitalizing on a 3-on-1 rush that went tic-tac-toe from the left wing to the right.

And with just 11 seconds left in the game, McGrane added an empty-net score for his second goal in the game, leaving the crowd happy with free Wendy's courtesy of the Wendy's Six Goal Shootout.

The Eagles start their road trip against the Tulsa Oilers on Friday night. Colorado's next home game will come Friday, Feb. 12 vs. the Arizona Sundogs.

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 27, 2010


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