CHL Colorado Eagles

St. Vincent Wills Oilers to Win Over Eagles

November 14, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Tulsa Oilers defeated the Colorado Eagles 6-5 tonight on the strength of 53 Guy St. Vincent saves and a five-point game by Michel Beausoleil. Colorado's 58 shots were the second-most in franchise history in a 60 minute game. The Eagles' penalty kill went just 1-4, struggling after a recent surge of 92.3 percent efficiency.

Colorado held a 2-1 lead after a wide open first 20 minutes of play, with Ryan Tobler notching a pair of goals within 39 seconds. The period saw several great chances - and several great saves by both Morgan Cey and Guy St. Vincent - and a couple of fights between the clubs that met on Tuesday night. Tobler opened the scoring by knocking in a Scott Polaski rebound on the power play at 12:16, and the two connected again moments later after Konrad Reeder chipped the puck off the left-wing boards to Polaski skating through the left circle. The defenseman deftly deked down St. Vincent and backhanded a slick pass to Tobler low in the right circle.

Tobler was in the middle of things again with just over four and a half minutes left in the first when he threw a crushing check in the right corner of the offensive zone and was confronted by Ben Chaisson who had come to his teammate's defense. Tulsa cut the Eagles' lead in half at 17:40 when Beausoleil scored with a rifle of a shot, top shelf, from the top of the right circle on a two-on-one breakaway.

The second period saw Tulsa tie the game with three goals in a row after Colorado expanded their early lead with two tallies of their own. Brett Hammond made it 3-1 just 1:38 in when he jammed in a loose puck at the right side of the net, and Ed McGrane made it 4-1 just over three minutes later. The goal developed as Aaron Schneekloth took a pass from Reeder entering the zone down the left wing and saw McGrane calling for the puck in the high slot. The All-Star defenseman hit McGrane with a pass and the Eagles' forward sent a beautiful shot upstairs on the Oilers' netminder.

The period - and the game - seemed to turn on a fluky goal just over a minute later when Kelly Sickavish's shot from the top of the circles deflected off of Erik Adams in the slot and changed directions dramatically before fluttering past Cey and into the top right corner of the cage. Tulsa then cut Colorado's lead to 4-3 with a power-play goal at 7:53 after Beausoleil's shot from the left dot was blockered aside by the Eagles' netminder, but Jake Riddle was able to sweep the rebound inside the left post. The Oilers struck again on the man-advantage at 11:52 to tie the game - scoring four goals in a game for the first time all season - when Beausoleil found Brandon Hodge for a rocket shot from the left circle.

The resilient Oilers kept the game close in the third on the strength of their defense and opportunistic offense and eventually took the lead for good. Kevin Hansen saved a goal - and broke Riley Nelson's franchise record points streak at the same time - by getting his stick in the lane on a backdoor play from down low on an Eagles power play in the opening minute, and St. Vincent robbed Reeder with six and a half minutes gone from the left side of the net. Not to be outdone, Cey flashed the leather a couple times at the other end of the ice to keep the game knotted at four.

And at 12:24, it looked as if Colorado had broken through with the game-winning goal when Kevin Ulanski scored on the power play on a nice feed from Steve Haddon and Erik Adams, but Riddle answered just over a minute and a half later to raise the tension in the building again. Then at 17:35, Beausoleil got the game-winner when he snapped a shot past Cey off a nice drop pass from Jason Lawmaster. The Eagles mounted a mad finish during the final minute with the extra attacker, but the night belonged to St. Vincent as even shots he didn't see went right into his glove.

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Central Hockey League Stories from November 14, 2008


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