CHL Colorado Eagles

Sundogs Win Shootout Opener, Tobler Gets 500th Point

Published on October 20, 2007 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - Friday night, the defending President's Cup champion Colorado Eagles celebrated the opening of their 5th Anniversary season and a Ryan Tobler career milestone, but little else as the Arizona Sundogs came back to beat the champs 6-5 in a shootout.

The game featured quality play from both teams, but in the end, Arizona's power play and the saves of rookie goalie Bill Zaniboni were just too much for Colorado. The Sundogs went 3-for-9 on the man advantage, while the Eagles only had four power plays the entire night (on in overtime). Zaniboni stopped 36 of 41 shots, while Colorado's starting netminder, Clayton Pool, stopped 30 of 35.

The scoring started early, as would be expected from two of the CHL's top three offenses from a year ago (Colorado #1, Arizona #3), as the Sundogs' Mark Kolanos put his team on the board by putting a rebound past Pool just 1:10 into the contest. Stationed on the doorstep, just to Pool's left, Kolanos knocked in a rebound from Tyler Redenbach and Guillaume Rodrigue. It didn't take long for Colorado to even it up as Ryan Tobler notched his 499th professional point with a snap-shot from the right face-off circle as the Eagles finished killing a penalty. Brad Williamson then put Colorado on top for the first time in the 2007-08 season when he backhanded in a power play goal after settling the puck with his skate in front of the net (Greg Pankewicz, Riley Nelson). The young and talented Arizona team, however, countered right back with a power play goal of their own when David Schlemko scored right off of a faceoff win in the Colorado zone to even the score at 2-2.

The Eagles took control in the second period as Tobler scored his 500th career point 1:08 in by deflecting a Jay Birnie shot out of mid-air and behind Zaniboni (his second goal of the night). At 10:23, Ed McGrane gathered the puck at center ice and made an outstanding individual effort, dancing through the Sundogs' zone and in close on Zaniboni before shoveling a shot that just snuck through to put the Eagles on top 4-2. Arizona Head Coach Marco Pietroniro then called a time out to calm his team down and try to halt Colorado's momentum.

In the third, Arizona crept back into the game when Chris Bartolone scored on the power play, getting assists from Sean Sullivan and Alex Leavitt. Then they evened the game up once more after the puck slid free into the slot in front of Colorado's Pool and a wide open Daniel Laperriere slammed it past the defenseless goalie at 8:46. Pankewicz countered for the Eagles by snapping a shot 5-hole on a two-on-one break with Riley Nelson, but the Sundogs' Chris Greene forced overtime when -- again, on the power play, and again, wide open in the slot -- he threw a shot past Pool.

Skating four-on-four, the Eagles' Ed McGrane almost ended the game :15 seconds into the extra frame, but Zaniboni stoned him on a breakaway. Moments later, the goaltender did it again, snaring a Pankewicz rocket while the Eagles had an extra man on the ice for a delayed penalty call. Colorado, however, would come up empty on one of their four power play opportunities of the night and the game went to a shootout.

The shootout began with Arizona choosing to go first (the home team gets the choice). The choice seemed to backfire as Pool stopped Karl Sellan with a low blocker, but Colorado's Williamson was stopped on his attempted 5-hole shot too. Next came Tyler Redenbach (already with three assists on the night); he beat Pool top shelf after a nifty backhand-forehand move. McGrane's similar attempt went wide and the Sundogs led 1-0. Olivier Latendresse then started out skating way wide to set up his top shelf goal, and Seth Leonard countered by shooting wide of the net. Arizona's David Schlemko got too fancy and the puck went nowhere, putting the game on Tobler's stick. The CHL's top power forward kept the shootout going by beating Zaniboni. Alex Leavitt then chipped a backhand attempt into Pool's bread-basket and Riley Nelson followed Tobler's cue by firing the puck past Zaniboni's right side to tie the shootout at 2-all. Dusty Collins couldn't beat Pool's blocker, and Pankewicz couldn't beat Zaniboni's left kick-save. Back-and-forth it went: Mark Kolanos stopped, Dave Iannazzo stopped, Chris Greene stopped, Paul Esdale stopped, until finally, it came down to the 9th pair of shooters. Sean Sullivan came in on Pool and beat him 5-hole, leaving the game on the stick of Aaron Schneekloth. Schneekloth went to his left, and then to his right, but couldn't get the puck past Zaniboni and the young Sundogs -- six of them with rights owned by the Phoenix Coyotes -- topped the defending champions 6-5.

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Central Hockey League Stories from October 20, 2007


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