CHL Colorado Eagles

RiverKings Fight Back for Shootout Win

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


SOUTHAVEN, Miss. - The Mississippi RiverKings overcame an early 3-0 deficit and a bench-clearing brawl to come back and beat the Colorado Eagles, 5-4 in a shootout. Louis Dumont got the shootout winner, and the two teams combined for 177 penalty minutes (101 for Colorado, 76 for Mississippi) in an entertaining game in front of 2,687 at the DeSoto Civic Center. The 177 combined penalty minutes set a franchise record for the Eagles, and their 101 penalty minutes rank second all-time.

After failing to score a night earlier, the Eagles got out to a 3-0 lead just after eight minutes in. Scott Polaski got the scoring spree started when he collected a Les Borsheim rebound in the slot and threw it past RiverKings' goaltender Adam Hanna who was out past the top of his crease. Dave Iannazzo got his first point since November 17 when he scored at 4:42. Seth Leonard was able to dive to Hanna's right and get his stick on a Riley Nelson rebound, and his shot squirted through to Iannazzo at the opposite end of the crease. And at 8:05, Leonard got his own goal when he picked up a loose puck in the slot, skated to his right and threw it into a wide-open net.

But Mississippi would take advantage of three Eagles' mistakes to climb back into the game with three first period goals of their own. At 9:58, Ryan Campbell scored a short-handed goal when he got in behind the defense and beat Ian Keserich. Ryan Held, then cut the lead to 3-2 when he cut through the slot and got a pass from Dumont along the right wing boards, before beating Keserich. The scoring ceased when the RiverKings' Steve Makway scored a 5-on-3 power play goal with a shot from the point at 17:55.

But even though the scoring was over, the action wasn't. After the horn sounded to end the first, Jay Birnie got into a fight in the corner that would lead to a bench-clearing brawl. While Birnie was throwing punches, Hanna -- the RiverKings goalie -- jumped Pankewicz near the benches. Keserich then came to the captain's aid and took out Hanna with a steady diet of flying fists. As the goalies were locked up, Fraser Filipic and Sheldon Wenzel started circling at center ice; Filipic dropped him almost immediately, but since the officials were so busy, Wenzel got back up and they kept going. Les Borsheim and Jason Beatty joined in the spirit and began their own fracases and the ice was covered with sticks, gloves and fights before it finally came to an end and the teams made their way to their respective locker rooms.

The second period opened with the benches almost as vacant as they were during the bench-clearing brawl as a total of eight players -- five Eagles (Pankewicz, Keserich, Filipic, Beatty and Birnie) and three RiverKings (Wenzel, Hanna and Darrell Stoddard) -- were handed game misconduct penalties. With both goalies gone, Bryan Bridges skated between the pipes for the first time with the Eagles and Kyle McNulty (recently signed by the RiverKings) took over the net on the opposite side of the ice as the period opened. After successfully killing a five minute major penalty, Colorado re-gained the lead when Aaron Schneekloth got his 13th goal of the year at 7:17. Schneekloth's shot from the top of the left circle made its way through a maze of sticks and legs and behind McNulty. Both goalies would stop every other shot they faced in the second (Bridges, all 20, McNulty, nine of 10).

At 7:20 of the third, Jason Lawmaster skated down the right wing boards and threw the puck toward the net from the goal line where Davis got it past Bridges for the only goal of the period and the only goal Bridges would allow in regulation. After coming into the game to start the second period, Bridges stopped 39 of 40 shots in a span of 45 minutes.

After each team got four shots but no goals in overtime, the game went to a shootout. Each team had one of its first five shooters score -- Campbell for Mississippi and Leonard for Colorado -- but the game ended with the sixth shooters. Dumont went first and beat Bridges 5-hole, before Schneekloth was stopped against the right post.

The Eagles finished their two-game road trip 0-1-1 (one point) and will head home -- where they are 9-2-0 at the Budweiser Events Center -- for five straight games.

Check out the Colorado Eagles Statistics

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



Central Hockey League Stories from December 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