LOVELAND, Col – After the first seven games of 2012 the Eagles record was a middling four wins vs. three losses for the month. Not bad considering five of the seven games were road games and six of the seven were on back to back nights.
Rounding out the month the Eagles returned home to the friendly confines of the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland Colorado for a three game set against the Las Vegas Wranglers.
Game one, played on Wednesday January 25, was an exciting back and forth battle showcasing the hard work and stellar saves of the two goalies. Andrew Penner of the Colorado Eagles faced 32 shots through regulation allowing 2 goals. Joe Fallon also gave up two goals while facing 26 shots in the 60 alloted regulation minutes.
Las Vegas claimed the extra point at 4:01 of the Overtime period when Josh Lunden slammed a rebound past Penner for the win.
Wrangler goalie Joe Fallon is screened by Eagle forward Michael Forney
Eagles Luka Vidmar, Michael Forney, and Kevin Ulanski celebrate Adam Chorneyko’s goal.
Wranglers Eric Lampe scores five hole on Eagles Andrew Penner
Josh Lunden of the Las Vegas Wranglers lifts the OT game winning goal over Eagles netminder Andrew Penner’s two-pad stack.
Two nights later, on January 27th 2012, the Eagles were thirsty for revenge. Andrew Penner’s excellence in the 3 to 2 OT loss the previous contest earned him a chance to start the second game of the three game series. Unfortunately their was no repeat performance for Penner as he surendered 5 goals on 19 shots in less than two periods to the hungry and determined Las Vegas Wranglers.
Kyle Jones finished out the game for the Eagles stopping all 10 shots he faced while Joe Fallon in net for the Las Vegas Wranglers recorded the shutout.
Goalie Joe Fallon of the Wranglers kicks aside an Eagles shot.
Eagles goalie Andrew Penner dives out of the net to stop a puck.
Wrangler Scott Campbell finds the puck in traffic and scores the visitors first goal of the night.
Kyle Jones replaced Andrew Penner towards the end of the second period and kept the Eagles net clean for over 24 minutes.
The third game of the three game set, on Saturday January 28th 2012, saw Kyle jones get the start. Once again the Colorado Eagles were outplayed and out hustled by the team from Las Vegas. Playing on back to back nights Jones fared no better in goal than his counterpart Andrew Penner did the previous night.
The Wranglers scored 4 straight goals against the Eagles in the first two periods before Steve Haddon got the Eagles on the board midway through the second period. A late second period goal by Josh Lunden and another by Haddon in the third followed by an Adam Miller tally yielded the final score of 6 to 2 in favor of the Wranglers.
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Gord Burnett of the Eagles takes on Adam Huxley of the Wranglers early in the first period of their January 28th 2012 contest.
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Las Vegas defensman Jeff May and Eagles defenseman Ben Chiarot battle for position in front of Wrangler goalie Joe Fallon.
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Wranglers Eric Lampe is called for interference against Eagles Goalie Kyle Jones.
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The Colorado Eagles celebrate Steve Haddon’s first of two goals in the contest between the Eagles and the Las Vegas Wranglers.
With a record of 22-16-1 for 49 points the Eagles remain in second place in the Mountain Conference. Colorado travels to Bakersfield, California on Friday to play the Condors on Feb 3rd and 4th.
With 14 of the remaining 25 games at home, the Eagles look to regain home ice dominance for the stretch run.
Contact the author/photographer at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
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