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CHL Colorado Eagles

Eagles Week In Review

March 23, 2009 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


Week In Review

Monday, March 16; Eagles Sweep Weekly Awards

(LEAGUE RELEASE) - The Central Hockey League announced today that the recipients for the Oakley CHL Player and Goaltender of the Week for the period ending Mar. 15th, 2009 are forward Ed McGrane and goaltender Andrew Penner of the Colorado Eagles.

McGrane joins Kevin Ulanski and Riley Nelson as Eagles players that have won the weekly award. Last week, the Hamilton, Ontario native scored seven points with goals in each of the Eagles three games (all victories). He finished the week with four goals, three assists and was a +6. McGrane is currently on a league-high 17-game point streak (third longest in Eagles franchise history) scoring nine goals with 16 assists. On the season, he is fifth in the league with 77 points (23-54=77). The 5-11, 195-pound forward had four points (2-2=4) in the Eagles 7-3 win at Rocky Mountain on Thursday, a goal and an assist in their 9-0 win versus Amarillo on Saturday and a goal in the Eagles 3-0 win against Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Penner went 2-0 last week stopping 69 of 72 shots (.958 save percentage) while earning his second shutout of the season on Sunday night in a 3-0 victory over Oklahoma City. On the season, the Simcoe, Ontario native is second in the CHL with 29 wins and ranks fifth with his 2.68 goals against average. Penner began the week with a 34 save performance in a 7-3 win at Rocky Mountain on Thursday. Penner previously won the weekly award on November 24th and also was named the Sher-Wood/CHL Goaltender of the Month for December.

In recognition of their achievement, both McGrane and Penner will receive a special gift from Oakley.

Oakley CHL Player of the Week

Ed McGrane, Colorado Eagles

Position: F

(Weekly Totals)

Games Played: 3

Goals: 4

Assists: 3

Points: 7

Plus/Minus: +6

Oakley CHL Goaltender of the Week

Andrew Penner, Colorado Eagles

Position: G

(Weekly Totals)

Games Played: 2

Record: 2-0-0

GAA: 1.50

Save %: 0.958

Saves: 69 of 72

Tuesday, March 17; Eagles Make Up Half of All-CHL Team

(LEAGUE RELEASE) - The Central Hockey League (CHL) announced today the six member All-CHL team for the 2008-09 season, selected through balloting of all 16 head coaches. Making the team as forwards are Colorado's Riley Nelson and Kevin Ulanski along with Odessa's Sebastien Thinel. The defensemen are Bossier-Shreveport's Dale Lupul and Colorado's Aaron Schneekloth and the goaltender is Mississippi's Kevin Beech.

The Northwest Division winning Eagles land three members on the team including one of the five Most Valuable Player finalist Nelson who is tied for third in the league with 80 points (29-51=80) and is third as well with a +32 plus/minus rating. Joining Nelson as one of the forwards is first-year Eagles Ulanski who is second in the CHL with 82 points (24-58=82) and second with a +37 plus/minus rating. The final Eagle is Schneekloth who makes the All-CHL Team for the second consecutive season. He is tied for fourth among defensemen with 51 points (17-34=51) and leads the league with a +38 plus/minus rating. He is one of the five finalists for the CHL's Most Outstanding Defensemen award.

The other forward is the league's leading scorer Thinel who is 13 points ahead of Ulanksi in the race for the Joe Burton Scoring Championship. The veteran Jackalope forward has 95 points (37-58=95) and his 37 goals are also tops in the league.

The second defenseman on the team is Lupul who in his fourth professional season is posting career high numbers with 48 points (12-36=48). He ranks seventh among CHL defensemen in points.

Beech earns All-CHL honors with his 35-10-3 record. He leads the league with 35 wins and is tied for the league lead with three shutouts. He ranks third with a 2.37 goals against average and has gone 15-0-2 since the end of January leading the RiverKings to the Northeast Division Championship. The CHL record for wins in a season is 39 set in the 1998-99 season by Huntsville Derek Puppa.

2008-2009 All-CHL Team

F: Kevin Ulanski, Colorado Eagles

F: Riley Nelson, Colorado Eagles

F: Sebastien Thinel, Odessa Jackalopes

D: Dale Lupul, Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs

D: Aaron Schneekloth, Colorado Eagles

G: Kevin Beech, Mississippi RiverKings

The remaining CHL Awards will be announced throughout the week with the CHL Most Valuable Player recipient announced on Monday, March 23rd.

Wednesday, March 18; Thoring On IR, Grosul Signed

WINDSOR, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles announced today that recently-acquired defenseman Clay Thoring has been placed on season-ending IR with a knee injury. In a related move, Colorado has signed former Eagles defenseman Aaron Grosul. Grosul played three full seasons (2003-04 - 2005-06) and five games in a fourth (2006-07) with the Eagles.

"I've known Aaron since I brought him in as an amateur in San Antonio and we've had a great relationship since he followed me to Colorado," said Colorado Eagles President & General Manager Chris Stewart. "He's a tremendous athlete with a great knowledge of hockey and he's in incredible shape. We know exactly what we're getting in Aaron and he will be a welcome addition to our hockey team."

Thoring, a rookie recently claimed off waivers from Bossier-Shreveport, registered three points (including his first professional goal), a plus-three rating and four penalty minutes in five games with Colorado. The Frontier, Saskatchewan native had the same amount of points in 22 games with the Mudbugs earlier this season.

Grosul, who has a background of youth hockey instruction in Alaska, was named Hockey Director for Northern Colorado Youth Hockey (NCYH) last year. "He has done a fabulous job helping NCYH develop into the top youth hockey organization in Northern Colorado in a short amount of time," said Stewart.

Grosul ranks 20th on the Eagles' all-time scoring list with 49 points (8-41-49) and 183 penalty minutes in 185 games. He will wear his old number 24, which coincidentally, was the same number Thoring was wearing.

Wednesday, March 18; 2009 Playoff Tickets On Sale Friday

WINDSOR, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles announced today that tickets for their 2009 Central Hockey League home playoff games will go on sale Friday, March 20 at 10 a.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Budweiser Events Center box office, www.ComcastTix.com, 1-877-544-TIXX (8499), the Eagles Office in Water Valley or through any ComcastTIX Outlet.

As Northwest Division Champions, the Eagles can finish no lower than the second seed in the Northern Conference. As such, they will not play in the opening, best-of-three round of the playoffs. They will face either the Rocky Mountain Rage, Oklahoma City Blazers or Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in the following, Northern Conference Semi-Final round.

Tickets for the Northern Conference Semi-Final round will cost $18 (plus applicable fees). Dates and times are yet to be decided, but will be announced as soon as possible. Check back at www.coloradoeagles.com for the most up-to-date information.

* SEASON TICKET HOLDERS *

Tickets for all possible home playoff games are in your Season Ticket Books.

Please DISREGARD the BLUE "Wild Card" Round tickets, as the Eagles have earned a first round bye. The RED TICKETS will be used for the Northern Conference Semi-Finals; Games "A," "B," "C" and "D" coincide with the four possible home games in the best-of-seven series.

If you have any questions about your playoff tickets, please call our office at (970)686-SHOT (7468).

Thursday, March 19; Eagles Two Points Closer to Top Seed

BROOMFIELD, Colo. - A short-benched Colorado Eagles squad outlasted the rival Rocky Mountain Rage in a 4-3 overtime win. Playing with only 14 skaters and five defensemen, the Northwest Division champs got an overtime goal from Jay Birnie (just his second score of the season) to push them just one victory away from winning the Governors' Cup as regular season champions.

The two teams exchanged extended periods of pressure in the opening period, but the Eagles were the only team to score as they built a 2-0 lead on their first 10 shots. Ryan Tobler scored first when he beat Marty Magers 5-hole from the right faceoff circle. Then at 8:42, Steve Haddon got his ninth power-play goal of the season when Konrad Reeder found him camped out on the doorstep with a feed from the left side of the net. The Rage immediately made a goalie change, replacing Magers with Scott Reid in net.

Both clubs played a fairly even second frame, but the Rage capitalized on the last of their three power plays in the period to cut Colorado's lead in half heading into the third. The power-play goal Aaron Davis scored 19 minutes in, off a feed through the low slot from Nathan Gillies, broke two defensive streaks for the Eagles. It was the first man-advantage marker they had allowed since March 7 and it was the first goal scored against them at all after a shutout stretch of 171 minutes and 28 seconds.

Clay Plume was able to tie the game at two with another Rage power-play score at 3:11 of the third when his point shot found the back of the net behind Andrew Penner. Rocky Mountain was then able to kill two overlapping penalties -- and part of a 5-on-3 disadvantage -- midway through the frame. But Greg Pankewicz put the Eagles back on top, 3-2, with his 12th power-play goal of the season by beating Reid blocker-side with a wrister from high in the left circle at 17:53.

The late goal looked to be the game-winner as the clock reached double digits, but Tobler was called for interference at 19:01 and the Rage converted with an empty net, 6-on-4 tally with 38.8 seconds left. Ryan McLeod, standing at the left side of the Eagles' net, was the recipient of a fortunate bounce when Plume's spinning shot went wide and bounced off the endboards right to him, forcing overtime.

The Eagles out-shot Rocky Mountain 4-3 in the extra frame, with Birnie notching the winner at 2:12 after a great play by Ed McGrane. The Colorado winger danced through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone before getting behind the Rage defense and then hauled down in the low slot. As the players untangled themselves, Birnie neatly tucked the puck inside the Rage cage. McGrane's assist extended his point streak to a CHL season-high 18 games, one game off the franchise record, and the longest streak that doesn't carry over two seasons.

Colorado will finish the regular season with a pair of games in Rapid City, S.D. on Friday and Saturday night.

Friday, March 20; Schneekloth - Most Outstanding Defenseman

(LEAGUE RELEASE) - The Central Hockey League (CHL) announced today that Aaron Schneekloth of the Colorado Eagles has been named the recipient of the 2008-09 Central Hockey League's Most Outstanding Defenseman award. The honor is 'presented annually to the Central Hockey League defenseman who has demonstrated the greatest all-round ability in the position' and is determined through balloting of CHL head coaches, communications departments and selected media members in each market. Amarillo's Sam Ftorek finished second in the voting.

The Calgary, Alberta native is tied for third among defensemen in points with 52 (17-35=52) and is tied for the league lead with a +38 plus/minus rating. Last year, Schneekloth finished second in the voting to New Mexico's Vladimir Hartinger and he earned a spot on the All-CHL team in each of the last two seasons. The veteran defenseman has been an even or plus in 48 of the 62 games he has played in this season.

The seventh-year pro has experienced the greatest success in his career with the Eagles scoring 49 goals with 109 assists in 168 games. The former college star at North Dakota has played in 64 career American Hockey League games seeing action with Grand Rapids and Houston.

The recipient of the CHL's Most Outstanding Goaltender award will be announced later today, with the CHL Most Valuable Player award selection announced Monday, March 23rd, in conjunction with the winner of the Joe Burton Scoring Champion award. Already announced earlier this week were the recipients of CHL Athletic Trainer of the Year (Rocky Mountain's Osama Kassab), CHL Gunner Garrett Equipment Manager of the Year (Rapid City's Shawn Smith), CHL Coach of the Year (Mississippi's Kevin Kaminski), Rick Kozuback Award (Tulsa's Jeff Lund), CHL Rookie of the Year (Laredo's Darryl Smith) and CHL Man of the Year (Amarillo's Austin Sutter) honors, along with both the 2008-2009 All-CHL and All-Rookie teams.

Friday, March 20; Colorado Clinches Governors' Cup in Loss

RAPID CITY, S.D. - The Colorado Eagles were defeated by the Rapid City Rush 6-4 in the penultimate game of the regular season, but clinched their third Governors' Cup (as regular season champions) with Mississippi's loss to Bossier-Shreveport. The Eagles also accumulated the league's best record in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Rapid City played a strong first period in front of their sellout crowd, but it was Colorado who got on the scoreboard first when Greg Pankewicz deflected a shot from the newly-named Most Outstanding Defenseman in the league, Aaron Schneekloth. After having an early 5-on-3 advantage defused by the Rush penalty killers, the Eagles' captain made it 1-0 at 8:02 by tipping the All-CHL defenseman's rocket shot from high in the left circle.

The Rush stormed back, however, scoring three goals in a matter of minutes. Jon Pelle answered Schneekloth's goal at 9:41 by going hard to the net and knocking home a rebound. Then at 11:24, Chris Lipsett made it 2-1 when he beat Morgan Cey's glove with a shot from the high slot after a turnover in the Eagles' zone. And R.G. Flath made it three Rapid City goals in a row just 58 seconds later with a wraparound score.

Ryan Tobler cut the Rush's lead to one at 3:28 of the second period with his league-leading 23rd power-play goal when he got off a shot -- despite a defenseman all over him -- from the right hash marks that snuck over Lanny Ramage's shoulder and under the crossbar.

Rapid City countered again, however, just under two minutes later when they got their own man-advantage tally. Mitch Stephens fed a pass from the goal line to the right of the net to Derek Legault in the low slot for a 4-2 lead. But at 9:47, Pankewicz got his second goal of the game -- and league lead-tying 38th score -- with a slapshot that beat Ramage 5-hole from the right wing.

The Eagles tied the game at 4, 4:43 into the final frame, with their second power-play goal of the night when Ed McGrane knocked home a Schneekloth rebound. The score extended McGrane's point streak to a CHL season-high 19 games and matches the longest streak in franchise history as well.

The Rush, though, answered quickly again when Derek LeBlanc scored just 27 seconds later with a shot from the high slot that beat Cey's glove hand. Stephens added the game's final tally with Rapid City's second power-play goal midway through the third after receiving a pass from Pelle from the left wing boards. Wide open in front of the Colorado netminder, Stephens got Cey moving right to left and shot the puck under his left leg and off his right pad into the net.

The two teams will meet again Saturday night on the final day of the CHL's regular season.

Saturday, March 21; First Two Playoff Dates Announced

RAPID CITY, S.D. - The Colorado Eagles announced today that the first two dates of the Northern Conference Semi-Final series have been set. Games 1 & 2 will be played at the Budweiser Events Center on Sunday, March 29 and Monday, March 30; both games starting at 7:05 p.m. The rest of the best-of-seven series dates will be announced as soon as all other details are finalized. Check back at www.coloradoeagles.com for the most up-to-date information.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at the Budweiser Events Center box office, www.ComcastTix.com, 1-877-544-TIXX (8499), the Eagles Office in Water Valley or through any ComcastTIX Outlet. Tickets for the Northern Conference Semi-Final round will cost $18 (plus applicable fees).

* SEASON TICKET HOLDERS *

Tickets for all possible home playoff games are in your Season Ticket Books.

Please DISREGARD the BLUE "Wild Card" Round tickets, as the Eagles have earned a first round bye.

The RED TICKETS will be used for the Northern Conference Semi-Finals; Games "A," "B," "C" and "D" coincide with the four possible home games in the best-of-seven series.

If you have any questions about your playoff tickets, please call our office at (970)686-SHOT (7468).

Saturday, March 21; Eagles End Regular Season With Win

RAPID CITY, S.D. - The Governors' Cup champion Colorado Eagles ended the regular season with a strong, 6-2, win against the Rapid City Rush despite sitting several key players in preparation of the playoffs. The victory was Colorado's 45th of the season -- one off the franchise high set in 2006-07 -- and their 94 total points (45-15-4) tie a team high reached in 2005-06.

The Eagles and Rush traded goals throughout the opening 20 minutes of play with Colorado taking a 3-2 lead into the intermission. Brett Hammond got the scoring started with a power-play goal at 2:54 when he poked home an Ed McGrane rebound in the low slot. The assist gave McGrane a 20-game point-streak, setting a new franchise record.

But as they have done so often this season, the Rush countered quickly as Joey Olson evened the score just 53 seconds later after Konrad Reeder was denied at the opposite end of the ice on a back-and-forth sequence. Then, just 67 seconds after that, Steve Haddon got his 16th goal of the season on a sharp-angle shot to put Colorado back on top.

Mitch Stephens knotted the score back up at 2 at 17:27 when he put home a rebound from the left side of the net on a 5-on-3 advantage. But the Eagles answered quickly this time when Ryan Tobler scored a short-handed goal seven seconds later. Erik Adams skated the puck down the right wing and shot from the circle as Tobler followed the puck and poked home the rebound from the low slot.

Colorado added a pair of special teams goals in the second -- the first a power-play, the second short handed -- to take a 5-2 lead into the third period of play. Newly-signed Aaron Grosul got the power-play tally just 33 seconds in as the pinching defenseman whacked home a rebound goal from the left side of the crease.

At that point, Rapid City replaced Miguel Beaudry in net with Lanny Ramage after the former stopped 11 of 15 shots in 20 minutes and 33 seconds of play. Konrad Reeder made it 5-2 with the Eagles' second shortie of the game after Adam Hogg blocked a shot at the defensive blue line to spring a 2-on-1 rush the other way. The goal gave the Eagles five tallies on just 21 shots at the 13:39 mark of the second period.

Rapid City out-shot Colorado 16-7 in the final frame, but it was the Eagles that got the period's only goal when the league's Most Outstanding Defenseman, Aaron Schneekloth, snapped a shot past Ramage from the left circle at 10:35. Morgan Cey stopped 27 of 27 shots in the final two periods and 40 of 42 on the night in getting the win.

The Week Ahead

Sunday, March 29 & Monday, March 30; Eagles Open Playoffs Against Play-In Winner

As the top seed in the Northern Conference, the Eagles earned a first round bye and will await the winner of the Opening Round, play-in series between the fourth-seeded Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs and the fifth-seeded Rocky Mountain Rage. The Mudbugs won both of their meetings against the Rage this season - one in a shootout. The Eagles went 3-0-0 against the Mudbugs and 8-3-0 against the Rage in 2008-09.

Notable Numbers

STELLAR SEASON - With a win in the regular season finale against the Rapid City Rush, the Eagles completed one of the best seasons in franchise history. The 45th victory was one off the team high set in 2006-07, and the 94 total points from their 45-15-4 record tied a team high set in 2005-06.

HELLO GOVERNOR - The Eagles claimed their third Bud Poile Governors' Cup Friday night as regular season champions. Colorado also had the best record in the league in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

LEAGUE LEADERS - With the 2008-09 season complete, several Eagles led the league in different categories: Greg Pankewicz and Ryan Tobler tied league MVP Sebastien Thinel for first in goals (38), Kevin Ulanski tied Thinel for first with 59 assists, the league's Most Outstanding Defenseman, Aaron Schneekloth, ended in first with a +39, Tobler was first with 23 power-play goals and Ulanski led with six short-handed helpers.

POSITIVELY SPECIAL - The Eagles - as a team - also finished atop the CHL in several categories: their power play finished with the highest conversion rate (23%), they tied Texas for the league lead with 19 short-handed goals (after getting a pair in last game of the season), their 275 goals overall were the most in the league (as were their 480 assists) and they had an overall team plus/minus rating of +249 (led by the league's top three players in that category).

TIGHT RACE - Captain Greg Pankewicz finished the season with the most points on the team (85). The race was tight until the end with Kevin Ulanski (83 points), Riley Nelson (82) and Ed McGrane (80) just behind him. Those four also ended the season ranked numbers 2-5 overall in the league scoring race (McGrane was tied for fifth).

STEADY EDDY - With an assist in the regular season's final contest, Ed McGrane stretched his point streak to 20 games. Not only was it the longest streak in the entire league all season, it set an Eagles franchise record as well. McGrane tallied 28 points (10-18-28) in the streak that began on Feb. 7, with an additional assist from Friday night's game pending league approval.

POWER-play-FORWARD - Veteran power forward Ryan Tobler dominated on the power-play all season, racking up a league-leading 23 goals in such situations. His 38 goals overall were also a career high, meaning that 60.5% of his scores came on the PP. Moreover, with 66 career power-play goals as an Eagle, nearly 35% of them were tallied this season.

Check out the Colorado Eagles Statistics

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