LOVELAND, Colo – It comes as no surprise that game one of the Colorado Eagles vs. Mississippi RiverKings was a one goal overtime victory for the home team Eagles. It is the third game in a row in these playoffs that the Colorado team has taken to Overtime and got the win.
Down 2 to 0 with less than five minutes left in regulation the “never say die” Colorado team fought back on the basis of two gutty goals from big power forward, Ryan Tobler.
“We had our chances (throughout the game) but their goalie played really well”, said Tobler, “He gives them a chance to win every night – like our goalie does.”
The RiverKings started the scoring midway through the first when top scorer, Bobby Chaumont’s, shot through traffic squeaked through Andrew Penner’s pads. Scored on the Power Play, it was the only time the ‘Kings were able to capitalize on their lopsided 9 to 1 Power Play chances.
In period two Colorado fought to get back in the game with some great scoring opportunities including a breakaway by Kevin Ulanski that Kevin Beech was able to thwart with some acrobatic play. With all four of the
Photo by Terry Sanford
Miraculously the third period was played penalty free. With Mississippi willing to play defensively and hold on to their 2 goal lead the Colorado Eagles were finally able to execute their speed game 5 on 5. Outshooting the complacent RiverKings 18 to 10 it took over 15 minutes of the third period for the Eagles to get on the scoreboard with Ryan Tobler’s first goal of the game coming at 15:20. Down 2 to 1 with less than 2 minutes left in regulation, Ulanski found Tobler who scored his second of the game from the left of Beech for the game tying goal.
The first Overtime period yielded matching roughing calls with Greg Pankewicz and Darrel Stoddard being sent to the box at the 5:13 mark. The extra room on the ice favored the fast skating Eagles, Konrad Reeder and Ed McGrane, as Reeder fed McGrane for the game winner at 6:43. McGrane not only won the game but kept alive his point scoring streak that now encompasses his last 25 games including regular season and into the playoffs.
“Nice play by Reeder there to get the puck out to me. I didn’t even see the goal go in – I got hit right after the shot and didn’t know I scored until I saw the guys coming off the bench.” said McGrane about his game winner.
The Eagles 3 to 2 Overtime win in game one of the Northern Conference finals is best described as a goalie duel between the twoof the top goalies in the league. Penner faced significantly more rubber in the first two periods than did Beech, a combined 33 shots against Penner to a mere 15 shots for Beech. But the gap closed considerably in the third period with the Eagles shooting their way back into the game with an 18 to 10 differential that continued into the overtime period where Colorado amassed a 5 to 2 shot lead.
After the game Penner commented that,”Both teams created a lot of chances but you have to take advantage of your home ice. We were down two goals but we chipped away and came out with the two points.”
Game 2 is Friday. April 17th at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado.
Contact terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
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