CHL Colorado Eagles

Eagles Week In Review

Published on October 15, 2007 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


Monday, October 8; Eagles Open Camp

The defending league champs opened their 2007 training camp with a practice at 10 in the morning and an informal scrimmage at 3:30 in the afternoon. The team held practice at 10 a.m. all week at either the Budweiser Events Center or the NoCo Ice Center as the Eagles evaluated talent and prepared for their exhibition home-and-home series with their Front Range rival, the Rocky Mountain Rage.

Wednesday, October 10; Intra-Squad Charity Game

The Eagles held their third annual charity game at the Greeley Ice Haus, with proceed from the $5 tickets benefiting the Greeley Youth Assistance Fund. In the intra-squad match, the Gold Team (powered by the line of Tobler, McGrane and Iannazzo) took a 3-0 lead into the third, but the Black Team (led by Captain Greg Pankewicz) scored three in the final frame to tie it up. The match went straight to a shootout where Mike Lukajic put the Gold Team in the "win" column by firing a shot through the five-hole of Clayton Pool.

Saturday, October 13; Colorado Opens Exhibition With 5-2 Win

Colorado traveled to the Broomfield Event Center to take on their in-state rival, beating the Rage 5-2 in the first game of their home-and-home series. The Tobler-McGrane-Iannazzo line carried their strong play into the game, accounting for three of the Eagle's five goals. The game was closely played until halfway through the third period when Seth Leonard put the champs on top for good and Mike Lukajic scored an empty-net goal to end it. Clayton Pool played the first half of the game for the Eagles (stopping 16 of 18 shots), and Ian Keserich took over for the second half (stopping all 26 shots he faced).

Sunday, October 14; Colorado Plays at Home for First Time Since Title Win

Playing in front of their home fans for the first time since clinching the Cup, the Eagles defeated the Rage for the second night in a row, this time by 4-2. Led by Ed McGrane with two goals, the Eagles again played a tightly contested game against the Rage. All of the scoring took place in the second period, except for Scott Polaski's empty-net goal with :05 seconds left. The game had it's fair share of tenacity, as the teams combined for 42 penalty minutes. The Eagles converted on one of three power plays and stopped the Rage five out of seven times. Just like the night before, Ian Keserich came replaced the starting goaltender halfway through (this time it was Marco Emond). Marco stopped 17 of 18 shots, Keserich stopped 16 of 17.

The Week Ahead

Friday, October 19 & Saturday, October 20; Eagles Open 5th Anniversary Season, Defense of President's Cup

The Eagles will begin the 2007-08 season and the defense of their championship when they travel to Prescott Valley, AZ to take on the Sundogs in a weekend double-header. The Eagles will look to get off to a quick start against an Arizona team entering its second year of existence. The Sundogs had a successful first season, finishing with a 34-28-2 record (2nd place in the Southwest Division) and a playoff berth. The Sundogs were eventually eliminated with a second round loss to the New Mexico Scorpions. Colorado split the season series with Arizona last year (4-4), with each team winning its home games.

Stats & Streaks

500 for 17 - Ryan Tobler, four time winner as Best Power Forward in the CHL "Best of the Best" poll, is just two points away from registering 500 as a pro (197goals, 301 assists). Tobler's pro career dates back to 1997-98 when he played for the Lake-Charles Ice Pirates of the WPHL. His Eagles career dates back to 2004-05, and in three seasons in Colorado, he's compiled 270 points (108-162-270).

Road Win? - In their eight total meetings last season, the Eagles and Sundogs each won all four of their home games. Colorado will try and reverse that trend as they begin the defense of their title as President's Cup champions. Last season, Colorado's road record was 18-13-1; Arizona's overall record at home was 21-10-1.

McGrane Headache - Colorado's Ed McGrane tied for second in the league in preseason points with four (3-1-4) in two games. If you include the Eagles' intra-squad game, McGrane tallied six points in three games as he had a goal and an assists in that unofficial game as well. McGrane is coming off his first full/non-injured season with the Eagles in which he put up 72 points (31-41-72) in 58 games and finished second on the team in scoring behind Riley Nelson (41-47-88).

Special Stats - The Eagles finished the exhibition season tied for 5th on the power play, converting at 25% (1 for 4), and 9th in penalty killing (stopping 8 of 10 chances). Last year, the Eagles power play ranked first in the league at 21.92% (96 out of 438) and their penalty killing ranked 5th at 85.22% (444-521).

Productive Panks - Last season, in just four games against the Sundogs, Eagles Captain Greg Pankewicz scored 11 points (5-6-11). In the series, his points-per-game average (2.75) was by far the best between the two offensively-charged teams. The Eagles averaged the most goals-per-game in the CHL last season (4), and the Sundogs ranked third on the list with 3.58.

Check out the Colorado Eagles Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Central Hockey League Stories from October 15, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central