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CHL Colorado Eagles

Schneekloth's Hat Trick Leads Eagles Past Gorillas

November 24, 2007 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles, powered by an Aaron Schneekloth hat trick, held off the Amarillo Gorillas, 6-5, in the first of back-to-back games at the Budweiser Events Center. After opening the game with 24 shots on goal, the Eagles managed only 22 the rest of the contest as the Gorillas came back from a 5-1 deficit at one point.

The Colorado Eagles came out firing the puck on Gorillas' goaltender, Dan McWhinney, and didn't let up the whole period (out-shooting Amarillo 24-13). Their 24 shots in the first were one off the team record for most shots in a period. McWhinney, however, kept the game close with many solid saves. The period started promisingly for Colorado as Trevor Read took a penalty just 55 seconds in, but Amarillo was the first to get on the scoreboard. After an Ed McGrane giveaway at the right point, Jason Chafe led a two-on-one into the Eagles' zone and beat Marco Emond for a short-handed goal and a 1-0 lead. Colorado answered a minute and a half later, when Seth Leonard hit Steve Haddon cutting through the slot with a pass from the right wing boards. And at 5:27, Paul Esdale put Colorado up 2-1 with his first goal as an Eagle. After Leonard and Riley Nelson had a crack at beating McWhinney up close, the puck found Esdale creeping into the slot, and he put the puck past the down-and-out goalie. The Eagles were unable to beat McWhinney the rest of the period, despite continuing to throw pucks his way, and the score remained 2-1 heading into the intermission.

After pelting McWhinney with rubber in the first, the Eagles managed only seven shots in the second, but they scored on three of them. The first goal of the period came at 5:16 when Leonard threw a cross-ice pass from the left wing boards, that Aaron Schneekloth one-timed in from the right circle. Sixteen seconds later, Jason Beatty picked up the puck after a giveaway along the right wing boards, skated to the top of the left circle and threw a shot that beat McWhinney 5-hole for a 4-1 lead. Pankewicz earned the assist, his third of the night. Just over three minutes later, on a four-on-three power play, Schneekloth got his second of the period. Nelson won the face off cleanly, and Schneekloth slapped it in from between the circles. Amarillo got their second goal of the game at 14:27, when Chris Lipsett skated in close on Emond along the goal line and threw a shot on the goaltender that climbed up his back and into the net.

Schneekloth scored his third goal of the game (for his first hat trick with the Eagles) at 5:10 of the third. Ed McGrane sent a pass from the right wing boards to Schneekloth -- who was cutting into the low slot -- who backhanded a shot that fluttered over a falling McWhinney. The Gorillas, though, did not give up. Aided by two power play goals and some outstanding saves by McWhinney, Amarillo battled back to run off three goals in the third. The first goal (at even strength), was the result of a pretty criss-cross play by Lipsett and Grant Selinger. The next Gorillas' goal, at 11:01, occurred when Emond lost sight of a Nate Fornataro rebound -- thinking it went to his right, when indeed, it was sitting next to his left leg -- and Austin Sutter poked it into the goal. Less than two minutes later, Sutter's pass from the top of the left circle to Shaun Arvai at the top of the right circle, resulted in a one-timer past the Eagles' netminder. The Gorillas continued to pressure until the final buzzer as the Eagles held on for their fifth one-goal win of the season.

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