Eagles, MudBugs set to tangle

LOVELAND, Colo – The Colorado Eagles, winners of the 2009 Governers Cup and champions of the Northwest Division, will play the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in the second round of the 2009 CHL Presidents Cup Playoffs beginning on Sunday March 29th .The Mudbugs, by virtue of their win against the Rocky Mountain Rage in the best of three “play-in” series, will travel to Loveland, Colorado for what should be a very competitive group of games. Here is a breakdown of the major aspects of each team and how they compare to one another. Coaching
For the first time since their inception the Colorado Eagles have a new head coach. Before the start of the 2008 – 2009 season Chris Stewart chose to surrender the coaching position to focus full-time on the club’s 

President and GM duties. Stewart brought in his good friend, former River Kings coach, and NHL tough guy, Kevin McClelland to assume the coaching duties.  The transition has been seemless with Coach McClelland sliding right in behind the bench and continuting the winning tradition started by Stewart. Adding to the coaching expertise of the Colorado Eagles is assistant coaches Chris Hartsburg who handles the defense and Ryan Bach who works with the goalies. In Bossier-Shreveport the longtime Mudbugs coach is also a tough former player. Scott Muscutt played the last three years of his professional hockey career with the Mudbugs and in 2000 assumed the head coaching position with the team. Muscutt’s numerous awards and accolades attest to his coaching skills, he was named CHL coach of the year in 2008 and has since surpassed the 300 win mark. Assistant coach Trevor Buchanan, is also a former Mudbugs standout who has been with the team since the very first season. Buchanan frequently runs practices as well as working one-on-one with individual players. Goaltending
If there has been one questionable aspect of the Colorado Eagles teams over the last six seasons it has been the lack of truly stellar goaltending, only the 2004-2005 President’s Cup winning pair of  Tyler Wieman and Paulo Colaiacovo can be considered comparable to the current goalie tandem. Morgan Cey (15-9-1) and Andrew Penner (29-6-3) are both experienced and proven goalies with ECHL and AHL games on their
resumes. The two of them feed off one another and engage in a healthy competition. Over the course of the season Penner has shown himself to be slightly ahead of Cey and is the defacto number one goalie but
Cey has to be considered number one “a”. Both are quite capable of stealing games for the Eagles. Bossier-Shreveport also has a skilled and experienced pair of goalies, the venerable Ken Carroll, in his ninth professional season between the pipes, has battled some injuries in recent years but he gives the Mudbugs the chance to win any game with his elite play. Back-up netminder Jon Horrell has shown himself to be a very worthy puckstopper also. Horrel replaced Carrol in the decisive game three against the Rage and was able to ensure the victory. Offense
With so many offensive weapons to chose from the Colorado Eagles were able to sit the entire first forward line in the last game of the season and still come away with a decisive victory. Greg Pankewicz, Riley Nelson
and first year Eagle, Kevin Ulanski, have had a great offensive season but the second line of Ryan Tobler, Konrad Reeder and Eddie McGrane are equally offensive minded. It is truly a pick your poison situation when trying to matchup against the top two forward lines for Colorado. The Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs can also put up the points and play a skilled offensive game. With proven point getters like Travis Clayton, Joe Blaznek and Chris Brassard alongside Joe Ori and Tyrel Lucas the Mudbugs will skate and score with any team in the league. Defense
The Colorado Eagles have had to be creative and play with a shortened defensive bench on several occaisions this season. With injuries to various defensmen countered by a couple of late season signees the playoff roster on defense looks  different than in the regular season. Clay Thoring, aquired off waivers from the Mudbugs, was injured in a late season game and is out for the playoffs. Former Eagle Aaron Grosul showed he still has the ability to play at this level and has taken the oft-injured Tom Reiman’s place in the lineup. Veteran defenseman Aaron Schneekloth, winner of the 2009 CHL’s best defensman, continues to lead the Eagles team on defense and converted forward Scott Polaski has shown that a skilled forward can become a stellar defenseman by using his natural-skating ability. The Mudbugs defense is led by Quade Lightbody and Dale Lupul. The unit as a whole is everything  that a former defensive-minded forward such as Coach Muscutt would put together. They are fast, strong and mean with the right combination of veteran leadership and young legs. Outlook
In the three meetings between the Colorado Eagles and the Bossier-Shreveposr Mudbugs the Eagles have won all three games. But as they say in the finanacial investment industry, past peformance does not
guarantee future performance, yet in this case the Eagles have the best record in the league for a reason. The Colorado team has great scoring ability, outstanding overall team speed, superior passing ability and finally another great goalie tandem. After having beaten a pretty good Colorado-based team in the Rocky Mountain Rage the Mudbugs are looking to go two for Colorado in these playoffs. Great coaching and veteran goal tending along with the ability to put up big numbers on the scoreboard can take them deep into the playoffs. Both teams are good enough to win it all but the Colorado Eagles get the nod to win the series in five games. Contact the author at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com