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CHL Kansas City Mavericks

Mavericks Outlasted by Eagles, 6-4

December 19, 2009 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Kansas City Mavericks News Release


LOVELAND, Colorado - The Colorado Eagles defeated the Missouri Mavericks 6-4 Friday night in a back-and-forth battle at Budweiser Events Center. The contest had three lead changes and Colorado scored the final three goals to propel them to the victory. Kevin Ulanski and Steve Haddon each had a pair of goals for the Eagles as they improved to 18-4-1 on the season. Mavericks' forward Nick Sirota also had two goals in the opening two minutes of the game, but Missouri fell to 10-13-1 overall. The Mavericks and Eagles will face off again Saturday night at Budweiser Events Center at 8:05 p.m. CST.

"This is the toughest building in the league to win and we played a pretty solid game," said Mavericks' Head Coach Scott Hillman. "We took too many penalties tonight, and not scoring on the five-on-three power play in the first period was a big turning point."

Missouri got off to a great start. After a fight at the opening faceoff between Alex Penner and Carlyle Lewis, the Mavericks scored just 15 seconds into the game. Sirota scored the first of his two goals to give Missouri a 1-0 lead, and it was the fastest goal to start a game in Mavericks history. Sirota made it 2-0 just two minutes later when he redirected a pass from Derek Pallardy at the 2:15 mark.

The Eagles came storming back and scored three unanswered goals to close out the opening period. First, Ed McGrane scored at 5:04, and then Haddon and Ulanski each scored to make 3-2 after one period.

Brett Hammond tallied a goal for Missouri just 1:29 into the second period to tie the game 3-3. He took a loose puck from behind the Colorado net and snuck it past goaltender Andrew Penner. Missouri quickly regained the lead on a nice move by forward Bill Vandermeer when he came in along the right wing, faked a shot and scored on a wrap-around. That goal was the Mavericks only goal on the power play in 10 chances during the game.

Ulanski tied the game 4-4 at the 7:34 mark of the second period on another nice individual effort. He got around the Mavericks defense and flipped a forehand over the pads of goaltender Doug Groenestege for a shorthanded goal. Groenestege was subsequently pulled from the game in favor of Mavericks' goaltender Alexandre Vincent.

Colorado made it 5-4 with just two minutes remaining in the second period when Ryan Tobler scored his 12th goal of the season on the power play. The goal turned out to be the game-winner as Missouri would not score again.

Haddon made it a 6-4 game and finalized the scoring with his second goal at the 14:32 mark of the third period

Colorado outshot the Mavericks 38-31 in the contest and killed nine of the Mavericks' 10 power plays. The Mavericks allowed two goals on five Eagles' chances on the power play.

Missouri's next home game is Tuesday, December 22 against the Laredo Bucks at 7:05 p.m. at Independence Events Center. It is a Price Chopper "Two-for-Tuesday" game in which fans can purchase one terrace or club level ticket and get one free. The tickets must be purchased at the Box Office on the day of the game, and fans must show their Chopper Shopper card. For more information, visit www.MissouriMavericks.com.

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