Eagles, ‘Bugs need OT to decide Game 1

LOVELAND, Colo. – Less than 48 hours after winning the Central Hockey League’s Turner Conference title, the Colorado Eagles hosted the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in Game 1 of the Ray Miron President’s Cup finals.
In anticipation of playing either Colorado or Rapid City in the finals, the Mudbugs traveled to Colorado prior to Wednesday night’s deciding Game 7 between the Eagles and the defending champion Rapid City Rush, thus allowing the Mudbugs a chance to acclimate to the altitude and get in a couple of practices in Colorado before opening the league’s championship series.
Rested and ready – the Mudbugs out shot the Eagles 28-20 in regulation and seemed to have the better chances throughout the game, but a determined Eagles squad weathered the onslaught to claim the 3-2 overtime victory.

“I don’t think we came out the way we wanted to come out; we didn’t get as many shots as we should’ve” Eagles goalie Kyle Jones said after the game. “We didn’t create as many opportunities as we should’ve, but luckily we capitalized on some of them and that was the difference tonight.”
There was no scoring in the first frame although each team had chances with the Mudbugs out shooting the Eagles 9-6. Each was assessed a single minor penalty in the period.
Both teams tallied a goal in the second frame with Daymen Rycroft tipping a Riley Nelson pass by John DeCaro at 4:07 to get the Eagles on the scoreboard first. Jeff Kyrzakos beat Jones for a power play goal at 11:35.
With four penalties called against the Eagles and two infractions against the Mudbugs, the shots on goal in the second period were 10 for Bossier-Shreveport and six for Colorado.
In the third period, each team scored an even strength goal. Riley Nelson, assisted by Kevin Ulanski, beat DeCaro at 5:24 to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead that looked like it might stand until David Rutherford tied the game at 2-2 at 16:40.
Penalties in the third frame were one minor assessed to Colorado and two against Bossier-Shreveport. The shots on goal were nearly even with the Eagles taking eight shots to the Mudbugs’ nine.
In the overtime period, the Eagles came out firing in a determined effort to end the game in the home teams favor – peppering DeCaro with eight shots while only allowing the Mudbugs three shots on goal.
Rookie Matt Glasser’s seeing-eye slapper off a pass from Dan Sullivan was the game-winner, scored at 8:26 to give Colorado the 3-2 win.
“Maysie (Scott May) was adding a screen in front and I just tried to shoot it,” Glasser said. “To tell you the truth, it wasn’t a pretty shot, not top corner or anything. “I just picked middle of the corner on the right side and it went in.”
The three stars for Game one were:
#1 Star – Matt Glasser, who scored the game-winner in OT
#2 Star – Riley Nelson with a goal and an assist for two points
#3 Star – David Rutherford with the game tying third period goal
Game 2 of the Ray Miron President’s Cup finals will take place Saturday at 7:05 pm MST at the Budweiser Events Center.
Contact the writer/photographer at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com