CHL Colorado Eagles

Pankewicz's Nets HT With Shootout Winner Over Rage

Published on January 10, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles defeated the Rocky Mountain Rage, 6-5, for their fifth shootout win of the season. The Eagles' in-state rival scored all five of their goals via special teams -- on a total of just 26 shots -- but the resilient Eagles came from behind on the back of Captain Greg Pankewicz's natural hat trick. Colorado's next game will be against a team of CHL All-Stars when the Eagles host the 2009 CHL All-Star Game, presented by Poudre Valley Health System on Wednesday, January 14.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just 2:50 in when Brett Hammond took advantage of a Rage defender who fell down by cutting to the center of the ice and snapping a shot on Scott Reid where Adam Hogg was able to punch in the rebound. But Jared Mohr tied it up at 7:17 with a shot from the right circle for the first of three Rocky Mountain power-play goals in the period.

Colorado had a chance to regain the lead midway through the period but couldn't convert on nearly four straight minutes on two separate penalties, and the Rage seized the momentum by scoring two more man-advantage goals of their own before the first ended. Tyler Butler needed just seven seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage to snap a shot past Andrew Penner from high in the left circle at 13:10. And at 15:59, David Morelli carried the puck down the right wing before backhanding the biscuit on net where Domenic Maiani knocked it home.

After scoring three goals on eight shots in the first period, the Rage scored two on six in the second -- including another one on the power play. But the Eagles closed the scoring gap by getting three goals of their own to trail 5-4 after the second period. Colorado finally got a power-play goal at 2:10 when it took just seven seconds of the man-advantage for Kevin Ulanski to find Ryan Tobler with a cross crease pass. And just 16 seconds later, the Eagles tied it at 3 when Tobler circled behind the Rage net and threw the puck up the slot where Scott Polaski shot it past Reid.

But Rocky Mountain would counter on the Eagles' next power play when Brent Cullaton scored on a short-handed breakaway with a backhand shot past Penner at 3:55. The Rage then got their fourth power-play goal of the game at 15:07 when Scott Wray deflected a Butler point shot from in front of the net. Pankewicz made it a one goal game again just 45 seconds later when he answered by snapping a shot past the Rage netminder from the left circle.

The Eagles' defense shut down the Rage from there on out, and Penner -- as he has been so often this season -- was at the center of it. The netminder kicked out his right leg to stone Cullaton on another short-handed breakaway after Aaron Schneekloth whiffed on the puck near the blue line, and Penner's clutch play was rewarded later in the power play when Pankewicz scored his second goal in a row. The goal was similar to his first as he received a drop-pass from Reeder and blasted it high past Reid from the right circle.

Penner and the Eagles' defense stayed strong in the overtime period -- including the final minute short-handed -- to force a shootout (Colorado's sixth of the season).

In the shootout, Nelson and Pankewicz scored for Colorado, while Morelli was the only one of five shooters to beat Penner and the Eagles' captain's goal counted as the game-winner for his fourth hat trick of the season.

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Central Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2009


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