LOVELAND, Colo. – The Arizona Sundogs knocked off the defending champion Colorado Eagles, 6-3 in Game 4 of the Central Hockey League’s President’s Cup Finals.  The four-game sweep was the first playoff sweep for or against the Eagles in their five-year history.  Arizona goaltender Rob McVicar was named Playoff MVP after posting an 11-1 record and dominating the Finals.  On the other side, Bryan Bridges got his first start of the playoffs as the Eagles looked to a goalie change to change the momentum of the series.

The series’ theme continued again in the first period as the Eagles out-played the Sundogs when at even strength.  Unfortunately for Colorado, they spent almost half of the first 20 minutes of play in the penalty box.  Steve Rymsha got the game’s first goal at the 5 minute mark on Arizona’s second consecutive power play when he beat Bridges from the left hash marks on a pass from Tyler Redenbach along the sideboards.  The Eagles had three close calls on their man-advantage chance a few minutes later, but both Aaron Schneekloth and Ryan Tobler (twice) grazed the outside of the net with their chances from in front.  Cory Urquhart tied a CHL record with his 17th goal in the playoffs (tying Greg Pankewicz, set last year) with another power-play goal at 10:14 when he beat Bridges against the right post; Jon Landry’s shot had slipped past the Eagles’ netminder, and he almost gloved Urquhart’s goal while on his back. 

A few minutes later, McVicar made another unbelievable save – another theme in the series – after Tobler made a nice play to carry the puck into and through the offensive zone before sending a pass to a pinching Erik Adams to McVicar’s right.  But the goaltender flashed his right pad to deny the Colorado defenseman from in close on the bang-bang play.  Brad Williamson saved a goal himself on the Sundogs’ fourth man-advantage opportunity of the night about 14 minutes in when, stationed behind Bridges in the crease, the defenseman stopped a sliding puck with his stick before clearing the zone.  The Eagles got on the scoreboard at 16:15 on a delayed penalty call (drawn by Riley Nelson) when Jason Beatty’s shot from the left point deflected off an Arizona player in the high slot and eluded McVicar, cutting the Sundogs’ lead in half.

Colorado out-shot the Sundogs 21-12 in the second period, but a late goal by the CHL’s leading scorer put Arizona back in the lead after Fraser Filipic’s goal at 8:22 tied the score at 2.  Bridges continued to keep the Eagles close with another big save 7 minutes in when he stopped a 2-on-1 break for the Sundogs, and Filipic converted his netminder’s strong effort by knotting up the score just a minute and a half later.  Seth Leonard threw a shot on net from the goal line to the right of McVicar and Filipic backhanded the puck in the net from the left side of the crease.  Arizona proved opportunistic again, scoring on their 12th shot of the period when Alex Leavitt carried the puck down the left-wing boards, cut to the center of the ice around an Eagles defenseman and swept a shot past Bridges with just 6.7 seconds left in the period; the goal was his 29th point of the playoffs (9-20-29).

Arizona began the third period in defensive mode, but it mattered little to their offense that had been so dominant in the final frame in the playoffs.  Entering the game, the Sundogs had out-scored their opponents 28-15 in the third, and had scored seven of their 16 goals in the series in the period; their offensive output continued in this one as they scored three more.  Their first goal came at 3:28 after a turnover at the Eagles blue line, when Kyle Hood took a shot from between the circles that deflected off of Williamson’s stick and beat Bridges 5-hole.  McVicar stood on his head again a few minutes later when he stoned Nelson on a backdoor pass from Greg Pankewicz on the power-play.  As the play went the other way, Redenbach skated down the left-wing boards and beat Bridges with a short-handed goal over the goaltenders’ right shoulder.  Sebastien Laplante then replaced Bridges after 45:39 of play.  At that point, Arizona had an incredible shooting percentage of .164 in the series (21-128). 

The Eagles got their final goal of the season at 16:10 when Ed McGrane chipped home a pass from Seth Leonard on the doorstep.  Leavitt scored into an empty net at 17:50 to account for the final margin.  The Budweiser Events Center crowd gave the home team a standing ovation for the final minute as a sign of appreciation for a successful season, and began an impromptu Eagles chant after the traditional post-game handshake.

A Message From Colorado Eagles CEO, Martin Lind

To The Greatest Fans in Professional Sports,
 
It has taken a week to idle my emotions and gather enough composure to send this short message to all the Eagles fans. Not unlike you all, I was left with that empty feelings that not only were we leaving the Bud Center Friday night without our cup, but hockey was over for the year. However, I wouldn’t trade the President’s Cup full of gold for the experience of witnessing one of the coolest things I have ever seen. You Colorado Eagles fans gave a 5 minute standing ovation to those boys and their coaches when they were down with little time left and impossible odds of winning. Only in NoCo would we get that type of adrenaline-driven appreciation.

You guys are truly the greatest fans in professional sports, and on behalf of the owners, players, coaches and staff we send you a heartfelt Thank You Eagles Fans!
 
 And as I once heard somewhere…
“I swear I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my life, but…That Was Awesome!”

Martin Lind
CEO
Colorado Eagles

Colorado Eagles 2007-08 Season in Review

WINDSOR, Colo. – With our Fifth Anniversary Season in the books, we take a look back at a fifth consecutive successful year of Colorado Eagles Hockey.  Although the ultimate goal of winning back-to-back President’s Cup Championships fell just out of reach, there is no doubt that, overall, the 2007-08 season was a success.  Not only did the Eagles make it to the President’s Cup Finals for the third time in four years, but they won their fifth consecutive Northwest Division title and overcame more than their share of adversity throughout the year.

Preseason
After winning the President’s Cup in 2007, the Eagles were faced with plenty of adversity in the offseason.  Team founder – and hockey legend – Ralph Backstrom announced his retirement after 53 years in the sport of hockey, and head coach Chris Stewart underwent major back surgery.  In addition to the ensuing recuperation and absence, Stewart took on the additional roles of President and General Manager with Backstrom’s retirement.

Regular Season
The Eagles opened the season with two high-scoring losses to the eventual champion Arizona Sundogs before playing their home opener on October 23rd.  Prior to their 6-2 victory over the Tulsa Oilers in the home opener, Colorado honored their founder, Ralph Backstrom, by raising his jersey to the Budweiser Events Center rafters.  Assistant coach Ryan Bach led the team out of the chutes as Interim Head Coach while Stewart recuperated from his offseason surgery. 

Colorado got off to a solid start, but was crippled by injuries to Ryan Tobler, Fraser Filipic and Chris Hartsburg (who retired as a result) and couldn’t keep up with their in-state rival Rocky Mountain Rage.  The Rage were the hottest team in the league for the first half of the season, earning their coaching staff the honor of working the All-Star Game in their own building.  Stewart returned to the bench on December 21st in a 4-2 win over the Wichita Thunder, and the Eagles soon soared to the top of the Division.  By the end of the year, Colorado would nudge out the Rage for the Northwest Division crown, despite trailing the Broomfield-based team by as many as 10 points earlier in the year.

The Eagles set a remarkable record on January 12 – in a critical 6-5 victory over Rocky Mountain – by selling out the 5,289-seat Budweiser Events Center for the 145th consecutive time in the regular season; the feat marked a new record for consecutive sellouts in all of North American minor pro hockey.  In late January, Colorado made two separate deals with the Wichita Thunder that would help propel them to the CHL Finals.  The first deal brought winger Kris Wiebe, and the second sent Mike Lukajic and Marco Emond to the Thunder for starting goalie Sebastien Laplante.  The Eagles made one more move before the trade deadline – sending Paul Esdale to Corpus Christi – to make room for Scott Polaski’s return from the IR as team got completely healthy for the first time all year.

On February 23rd, the Eagles and CHL announced that the 2009 All-Star Game will be played at the BEC, in addition to an exciting new format in which the host team will take on the rest of the league’s All-Stars.  The format change harkens back to the original NHL All-Star contests, where the defending champions would take on the All-Stars the following year. 

As the season wound down, the Eagles and Rage battled fiercely for first place – including several head-to-head contests – with the Eagles securing the division with a shootout loss to the Youngstown SteelHounds on the season’s final day.  That loss would make the Eagles the 2nd seed in the North and the SteelHounds the 3rd, meaning the two teams would face-off in the first round of the playoffs.

Playoffs
Colorado would go on to defeat the SteelHounds in five games behind the strength of two Laplante shutouts, setting up a meeting with the Texas Brahmas in the Conference Finals; the Brahmas were coming off a sweep of the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (winners of the Governors’ Cup with the best regular season record).  The Eagles and Brahmas played a hard-fought (sometimes overly feisty) series that took seven games to decide.  Both captain Greg Pankewicz and defenseman Jay Birnie would have to sit out the successful Game 7 and the first two games of the Finals due to suspensions coming from a Game 6 post-game brawl.

The Eagles would defend their title against the Arizona Sundogs in the President’s Cup Finals, being without home ice advantage for the first tie in team history.  The Sundogs’ roster featured seven players that spent time with AHL affiliates throughout the year, had the CHL’s regular season and playoff scoring leader in Alex Leavitt and the late-season additions of record-setting forward Cory Urquhart and Playoff MVP Rob McVicar in net.  The opportunistic Sundogs (Arizona’s team-wide shooting percentage for the series was .167) swept the Eagles in four games behind the combination of their group of young, skilled forwards and McVicar’s stellar play in goal to put an end to the Eagles’ dreams of keeping The Cup in Colorado.

Season Highlights:
October 19th & 20th: Ryan Tobler reaches 500 professional points & 200 professional goals respectively
October 23rd: Home Opener/Ralph Backstrom’s career recognized & jersey retired
October 27th: Grand Opening of Inspiration Playground in Fort Collins
November 10th: Eagles net 100th win at Budweiser Events Center
December 28th: Greg Pankewicz and Aaron Schneekloth are named CHL All-Star Starters
January 12th: Eagles set new record for consecutive sellouts in minor pro hockey (145)
February 23rd: Announcement of 2009 CHL All-Star Game (held at BEC, old-style format)
March 8th: Colorado dominates League’s “Best of the Best” Poll (highlighted by Best Fans & Toughest Building to Win in for fourth year in a row)
March 10th: Aaron Schneekloth one of four finalists for Most Outstanding Defenseman
March 18th: Aaron Schneekloth named to All-CHL Team
March 20th: Chris Stewart receives CHL’s Rick Kozuback Award
March 22nd: Eagles win fifth straight Northwest Division title, earn 2nd seed in playoffs
April 13th: Sebastien Laplante ties CHL record with 3rd playoff shutout in 2-0 win against Texas
April 23rd: Colorado earns place in President’s Cup Finals for third time in four years