RAPID CITY, S.D. – A slow start doomed the Colorado Eagles on the road for Game One of the best-of-seven Turner Conference final at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Arena in Rapid City Friday night.
Seeded number one, the Rush out shot the second seeded Eagles in each of the three periods.
In the opening frame, Eagles net minder Kyle Jones faced 18 shots allowing one goal. Les Reaney scored a power play goal at 13:52 with assists from Vladimer Hartinger and Dave Grimson to start the scoring.
The Eagles managed only 10 shots in the period against former Colorado goalie Tim Boron, who turned them all away.
Steve Haddon and Adam Hogg
At 5:23 Josh Beaulieu slapped home the rebound of a Les Reaney shot to extend the Rush lead to 2-0.
The third stanza saw the Eagles finally dig in and send more pucks on net and they were rewarded at 4:08 with Steve Haddon’s power play tally. Adam Chorneyko and Kyle Peto assisted on the play that cut the Rush lead in half.
The Eagles were still out shot 10-7 in the final frame. Colt King sent shot number 10 into an empty net goal pushing the final score to 3-1 in favor of Rapid City.
The two teams will meet again Saturday for Game Two at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, with the opening face off at 7:05 pm MST.
Contact the writer/photographer at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
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