LOVELAND , Col. – Mid-November marked the end of the first month of play for the Colorado Eagles as a new ECHL franchise for the 2011-2012 hockey season. This milestone elicits a mixture of some good, some bad, and a few ugly results.
Kyle Jones
Among the good things for the Eagles has been the scoring tandem of Jack Combs and Chad Costello. As former teammates in the CHL last season, where they were the number one and two scorers for the Tulsa Oilers, the talented duo has continued their goal scoring ways in
Colorado. With Costello’s 17 points and Combs’ 16 points, both players are in the top ten of the ECHL in league wide scoring. However the point production from the forwards drops off quickly after the Costello – Combs combination. Another bright spot for the
Colorado team, has been the work of goalie Kyle Jones. His 5-3-1 record is not great, but considering the heavy workload and challenge of playing in a higher level league against established competition his record is commendable. The Eagles have used a total of four goalies so far this season, but Jones has all five of the
Colorado wins. In fairness, the backup for Jones in the first eight games was a local rookie, Mike Garman who was making his pro debut. It was no surprise that as soon as Andrew Penner and AHL affiliate goalie, Chris Carrozzi, resolved their visa issues, Garman was let go.
Schneekloth%2C Landry%2C Costello and Combs
With 12 games played in the past month leading to a record of five wins, six losses and one overtime loss, the Eagles have exhibited a high degree of inconsistency. Along with the goaltending uncertainties, another of the negative aspects of the Eagles game has been their questionable defensive production. The exceptions are returning defenseman, Aaron Schneekloth, and former Arizona Sundogs defensive standout, Jon Landry. The two veteran blue-liners have ten points each, for the third and fourth highest point totals on the team. Schneekloth also has a team leading plus-six and is one of only two
Colorado defensemen with a positive plus-minus, the other, is newcomer Gord Burnett with plus one in his two games. Another defense related decision that has yielded mixed results is the conversion of tough guy Alex Penner from forward to defense. His 80 penalty minutes and minus-four in 10 games are a testament to his agitator role. But the question is whether this has helped or hurt the team. Switching to what is considered a higher level of hockey and adjusting to the ups and downs of having an active AHL affiliation with the St. John’s Ice Dogs, and by extension the Winnipeg Jets, would appear to be the biggest stumbling block the Colorado Eagles will be dealing with this season. How they make the adjustments and accept the challenges will determine their success or failure in the ECHL. Contact the author/photographer at
terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com Related
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