Sundogs Fall to Eagles 4-3
January 25, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Arizona Sundogs News Release
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - The Arizona Sundogs and Colorado Eagles faced off Friday night at Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley in a battle of two of the Central Hockey League's top teams. The two teams battled back and forth but at the end of 60 minutes it would be the Eagles skating away with the 4-3 victory. The win marked the first time Colorado has ever won at Tim's Toyota Center. Despite the loss, Arizona still holds a one-point lead over second place Odessa for the Southwest Division lead.
Arizona and its top-rated powerplay scored the game's first goal just past the halfway mark of the opening frame while on a 5-on-3 man advantage. CHL leading scorer Alex Leavitt took a cross ice pass from Tyler Redenbach and wristed the puck past Colorado netminder Marco Emond from a tough angle for his 25th of the year, giving his club a 1-0 lead. Rookie forward Jason Visser also tallied an assist on the play. With the period winding down, Colorado pulled even as Les Borsheim received a pass from Steve Haddon and found the back of the net through Sundogs goaltender Andrew Gallant for his fifth of the 2007-08 campaign. Through the opening 20 minutes of play, each team put nine shots on net.
The visiting Eagles grabbed their first lead of the game with a powerplay marker of their own with 6:40 to play in the middle period. Seth Leonard pushed home a loose rebound for his 15th of the season with Ed McGrane collecting as assist on the go ahead tally. Arizona answered back just over a minute later as a speedy Visser grabbed his second point and first goal of the game, slapping home an Olivier Latendresse rebound. With 56 seconds remaining in the second, Dave Iannazzo notched his club's sixth shorthanded goal of the year on passes from McGrane and Brett Thurston to take a 3-2 lead into the final period. Colorado outshot Arizona 18-10 in the middle period for a two period 27-19 advantage.
Colorado came out in the third and opened a two-goal lead 1:21 in as Leonard pushed home a shot off the post for his second of the game from Jay Birnie and Iannazzo. The Sundogs fought back with their second goal with the man advantage as a Dan Laperriere fired a puck wide that careened off the half boards to an open Latendresse on the near post. Latendresse buried the puck at the 3:36 mark for his 19th of the year to pull his club back to within one. David Schlemko was also credited with an assist on the powerplay tally. Arizona pulled Gallant in favor of an extra attacker with time winding down but the strategic move fell short.
Andrew Gallant appeared in net for Arizona and stopped 35 of 39 shots in the loss while Marco Emond was opposite Gallant for Colorado. Emond blocked 29 of 32 shots on his way to his 13th win this season. Arizona finished 2-for-8 with the man advantage while the Eagles converted on one of five powerplay chances.
The two teams face off again tomorrow night at 7:05pm at Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley. Tickets are available by phone at 1-866-4-GET-TIX (1-866-443-8849), on the internet at www.gettix.net and in person at the Tim's Toyota Center Box Office.
• Discuss this story on the Central Hockey League message board...
Central Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2008
- Sundogs Acquire Rights to Netminder from Youngstown - Arizona Sundogs
- Sundogs Fall to Eagles 4-3 - Arizona Sundogs
- Eagles get first ever win in Prescott Valley - Colorado Eagles
- Another SO puts 'Bugs in CHL's top spot - Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs
- Brahmas unable to overcome Bats - Fort Worth Brahmas
- Riverkings beat Oilers 4-2 - Mississippi RiverKings
- Rage drop 1st game of trip, 5=3 - Rocky Mountain Rage
- Odessa wins special teams battle - New Mexico Scorpions
- Bats win sixth in a row, 4 points out of playoffs - Austin Ice Bats
- Rayz fall to Bucks 4-2 - Corpus Christi IceRays
- Gorillas power past Thunder 5-3 - Amarillo Gorillas
- Rosco wins 450th career game - Laredo Bucks
- Hounds defeat Rage 5-3 - Youngstown SteelHounds
- Ice Bats Try To Make It Six In A Row Tonight - Austin Ice Bats
- Sundogs Add to Offense, Sign Forward Horman - Arizona Sundogs
- Scorpion Fans Draw More Blood - New Mexico Scorpions
- Bucks Sign D-Man Yeung: Play In Corpus Tonight - Laredo Bucks
- Shots from the Point - CHL
- Kisio Suspended Three Games For Hit On Quenneville - Corpus Christi IceRays
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.
