CHL Colorado Eagles

Eagles Kill Penalties, Salvage 4-2 Win Against Rage

October 14, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles and Rocky Mountain Rage faced off tonight in the second game of their exhibition home-and-home series. After winning last night's game at the Broomfield Event Center 5-2, the defending President's Cup champions again got the best of the Rage with a 4-2 victory.

The first period featured a lot of back-and-forth action, plenty of feistiness, but absolutely no scoring. Eagles starting goaltender, Marco Emond, was tested more often and more seriously than his Rage counterpart Terry Dunbar as Rocky Mountain out-shot Colorado 13-7 and did a good job of interrupting the Eagles' offensive rushes by stacking 3 men on the blue line and getting their sticks and skates in passing lanes.

In the second period, the game started to open up. The Eagles started the period down two men with Greg Pankewicz (slashing) and Fraser Filipic (serving a bench minor for too many men) in the box. Rocky Mountain made them pay :45 seconds in, when Trevor Weisegerber got the scoring started; assists on the power play goal went to Brent Cullaton and Tyler Butler. At eight minutes in, Riley Nelson fired a shot from the high slot over the glove of Dunbar to even the score -- Aaron Schneekloth registered the assist.

Just like the night before, Ian Keserich replaced the Eagles' starting goaltender near the game's halfway point as Colorado continued to evaluate their goaltending options. Moments later, Ed McGrane put the Eagles on top after connecting from Dave Iannazzo -- as those two continued to build on the chemistry they've developed this preseason. But at 13:09, with the Eagles again down a man (Filipic, interference), the Rage's Scott Wray threw a sharp-angle shot over Keserich's shoulder from the left side of the net (Nathan Rosychuk and Simon Watson earned the assists). The Eagles then gave the Rage some of their own medicine when McGrane cashed in on a five-on-three Colorado power play. McGrane, stationed to the right of the net, put in the rebound after Pankewicz shot from the point ended up right on his tape (Schneekloth got the second assist). Colorado ended up with the two-man advantage because McGrane had taken a Cullaton stick in the face.

The third period -- much like the first -- remained tenacious as both teams battled, but the scored remained the same. Colorado continued to kill penalties -- spending two of the final three and a half minutes with two men in the penalty box. The Rage advantage grew to six-on-three as Dunbar was pulled in the final minute. But with the net empty, and the Eagles again at full strength, Scott Polaski finished off the Rage with an empty-netter (from Seth Leonard and Chris Hartsburg) with 5.7 seconds left. The Eagles finished the preseason 2-0-0 and look to begin the defense of their championship in earnest on Friday, October 19 against Arizona. Their home opener is on Wednesday, October 24 against the Tulsa Oilers.

Three Stars:

McGrane (1), Schneekloth (2), Dunbar (3) Inactives:

Colorado - Brad Williamson, Erik Adams, Paul Esdale and Clayton Pool

Rocky Mountain - Justin Schmidt, Pat Sutton, Chris Shaw and Jozef Budaj

Check out the Colorado Eagles Statistics



Central Hockey League Stories from October 14, 2007


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