 |
| Power
Play |
18.5%
- 4th |
| Penalty
Killing |
84.5%
- 5th |
| FORWARDS |
| JORDAN
CAMERON |
30-34-64
(+4) |
| BLAIR
MANNING |
11-52-63
(-2) |
| ANDERS
STROME |
34-26-60
(+2) |
| DEFENSEMEN |
| JUSTIN
KINNUNEN |
11-32-43
(+16) |
| KEVIN
McLEOD |
12-22-34
(-1) |
| CRAIG
MINARD |
2-21-23
(-2) |
| GOALTENDERS |
| DAVID
CACCIOLA |
26-15-1
(2 SO)
2.94 GA
.909 PCT |
|
| BRETT
JAEGER |
13-6-1
(0 SO)
2.52 GA
.921 PCT |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Texas
vs Colorado |
|
|
SCHEDULE |
| 1 |
APR.
11 |
TEXAS
1 - COLORADO 4 |
SEED
5 |
2 |
APR.
13 |
TEXAS
0 - COLORADO 2 |
SEED
2 |
40-22-2
(82) |
3 |
APR.
16 |
COLORADO
2 - TEXAS 5 |
37-20-7
(81) |
| |
4 |
APR.
18 |
COLORADO
3 - TEXAS 2 |
|
| |
5 |
APR.
19 |
COLORADO
2 - TEXAS 3 (OT) |
|
| |
6 |
APR.
21 |
TEXAS
5 - COLORADO 4 |
|
| |
7 |
APR.
23 |
TEXAS
2 - COLORADO 3 |
|
| Colorado Wins Series 4-3 |
|
SERIES
PREVIEW
|
|
|
LOVELAND,
Colo. - When the Colorado Eagles begin their Northern
Conference Finals playoff series against the Texas Brahmas
on Friday night neither team will have a familiarity advantage.
These two teams have played each other only twice in the
regular season with each team winning their respective
home game.
The Brahmas are coming off a four-game sweep of the CHL
regular season Governor's Cup winners the Bossier -Shreveport
Mudbugs and gained a lot of confidence from that series
victory. Texas will present a big challenge to the Colorado
Eagles who are trying to defend their Ray Miron Cup championship.
Against Youngstown in their opening round series the Eagles
played four well executed games including two shutout
games for Sebastien Laplante. Game four of the series
was their only clinker as they took the series four games
to one.
Colorado appears to be peaking at just the right time.
The defense has found its rhythm, the offense has continued
to score opportunely and the goaltending has begun to
demonstrate true playoff form.
Coaching comparisons:
Coaching the rejuvenated Brahmas this year, who spent
2006-07 on hiatus, is former Mudbugs player Dan Wildfong.
He retired as a player after last year's playoff disappointment
in Bossier - Shreveport and quickly signed on to coach
the Brahmas in nearby Ft. Worth. Wildfong's vast hockey
experience and numerous playoff performances stand him
in good stead coaching these talented Brahmas.
Since their inception the Colorado Eagles have been led
by one of professional hockey's coaches with a record
matched by few. Chris Stewart has been the leader behind
the bench as well as in the boardroom this season as he
added the team presidency to his previous roles as coach
and general manager. As if that were not enough of a challenge
for Stewart he also underwent an experimental spinal surgery
to correct longstanding back problems shortly before the
hockey season began. Assistant coach and former Eagles
goalie Ryan Bach, took over the on-ice coaching duties
while Stewart recovered.
Always on the lookout to improve his team, Stewart traded
soon to be veteran Marco Emond for the young talented
back stopper of the Wichita Thunder, Sebastien Laplante.
Stewart also recently signed the former captain of the
Colorado College Tigers, Scott Thauwald, as an amateur
for the remainder of the playoffs.
Advantage - Eagles
Forward match ups:
The Brahmas have a strong forward group led by Scott Sheppard,
Anders Strome, Blair Manning, and scoring leader Jordan
Cameron.
Riley Nelson, Ed McGrane, Ryan Tobler and Greg Pankewicz
counter for the Eagles. Nelson led the team with 91 points
and a +/- of +31.
Advantage - Eagles
On Defense:
Justin Kinnunen with 43 points in the regular season leads
the Brahmas defensive corps. Kinnunen was followed on
the scoring sheet by Kevin McLeod's 34 points and Craig
Minard with 23 points. With their strong defensive performances
the point totals are just an added bonus.
Colorado’s Aaron Schneekloth's league-leading 60 points
by a defenseman shows what an opportunist he is from the
blue line. Veteran stalwart Brad Williamson, is also known
to have an offensive element to his game plus he is arguably
the Eagles most capable and responsible defender. The
sheer strength and power of Les Borsheim on defense is
also worth mentioning as a factor in any contest he plays
in.
Advantage - Eagles
Between the pipes:
Dave Cacciola has given the team from Texas a huge advantage
this season with his presence in goal. His numbers are
good but they do not tell the full story of his goaltending
prowess. The kid they call "Cash" is money in the bank
for the Brahmas.
Struggling night in and night out with a faltering Wichita
team was starting to wear on goaltender Sebastien Laplante
and his chance to come and play for a Cup contender with
the Eagles was a welcome relief.
Laplante has worked through some chemistry issues and
become an integral part of this team in recent weeks and
that bodes very well for the Colorado Eagles chances for
a repeat of last year's championship playoff run.
Advantage - Brahmas
Intangibles:
Dan Wildfong is a strong charismatic player’s coach who
has his team’s trust and commitment. That will be an enormous
positive for the Brahmas in this series.
On the side of the Eagles is the tremendous amount of
skill and experience in playoff situations both from the
players and the coaching staff.
Advantage - Eagles
Despite what appears to be an advantage for the Eagles
(and yes I do expect them to win) I also expect it to
be a grueling 6 or 7 game series with a lot of ebb and
flow.
Contact the author at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX – The Texas Brahmas of the CHL
Northeast Division took everyone by surprise when they
swept the regular season Governor’s Cup Champion Shreveport
Mudbugs in four games in Round Two of the Northern Conference
Semi-Finals. It was something that no one anticipated.
The four game sweep of Shreveport puts Texas on a six
game, play-off winning streak. In the postseason, Texas
has only dropped one game and that was their first play-off
game of the postseason.
With their round two upset Texas moved on and will face
the Colorado Eagles in the Northern Conference Finals
for a seven game series. The winner of the series will
then proceed to the President’s Cup final against a yet
to be determined Southern Conference opponent.
The Eagles are the defending President’s Cup champions
and will be looking to defeat the Brahmas and proceed
on to defend their honor.
Goaltending
David Cacciola had a rocky start in Game One of the first
series and so back-up Brett Jaeger stepped up in games
two and three against Mississippi, moving Texas into the
Northern Conference Semi-Finals.
Cacciola’s stellar play with the assistance of his teammates
against Shreveport shut-down the Mudbugs. Cacciola is
riding a four-game winning streak and is playing like
a goalie should in the post-season but Colorado’s hunger
for a repeat will test him.
Texas has two solid proven goaltenders for the series.
Defense
All the defensemen seeing postseason action on the Brahmas
roster are showing even or plus numbers in the plus/minus
category. During the Shreveport series the Brahmas defense
was a hard unit to crack and the Mudbugs were unable to
do so.
Kevin McLeod leads the Brahmas defensemen in scoring with
1-5-6 in seven games of the postseason. His numbers and
play reflect leadership. As a whole, the Texas defense
will need to take their level of play up another notch
to fend off Colorado.
Offense
Anders Strome leads the Brahmas and ranks fourth in play-off
scoring with 5-4-9 in the seven postseason games. Two
other Brahmas, Blair Manning (2-6-8) and Cameron Jordan
(3-4-7) are listed along with Strome in postseason scoring
giving Texas three scoring leaders. Manning and Strome
both had two goal nights against Shreveport and Cameron
had a three goal night in Game Two of the Shreveport series.
All three have the capabilities to lead Texas to the next
level and will need to continue their on-ice production
to do so.
Intangibles
Texas and Colorado only met twice during the regular season
with each team playing host once. The two teams split
the series with one game each and both games were decided
by a two goal margin. The first meeting in Colorado was
an Eagles victory by the score of 6-4 on Nov. 10 whereas
the second meeting was a Texas victory of 5-3 on Feb.2.
Point-wise this match up could only be tighter if tied.
Texas earned 82 points with a .641 winning percentage
whereas Colorado earned 81 points for a .633 winning percentage.
That being said the Eagles were in the weaker division
with Colorado being the only representatives for the Northwest
Division in the postseason. As for the Northeast Division,
all four teams moved into the postseason and now only
one remains, the Texas Brahmas.
The longest winning streak the Brahmas saw during the
regular season was seven games. Texas is due for an early
loss and more than likely it will occur in the first two
games.
Author’s Prediction: Colorado in seven games.
Contact the author at brian.mclean@prohockeynews.com |
|
|
Game
1 |
Texas
1 - Colorado 4 |
| by
Terry Sanford
- PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Colorado
Leads Series 1-0 |
Loveland,
CO - The Sebastien Laplante the Eagles traded
for at the deadline continued his stellar play in game
one of the Northern Conference Finals. The goaltender
has settled in and has developed strong chemistry with
the team and truly given the players in front of him great
confidence in their goalie.
After getting two shutouts in the first series against
Youngstown, Laplante was less than 2 minutes away from
keeping the Texas Brahmas off the board to start this
series. Only a late 5 on 3 goal at the end of the third
period took that from him.
Both teams came out flying and hitting to start the game.
Colorado Eagles captain Greg Pankewicz got the Eagles
on the scoreboard first with a hard shot off an errant
pass from Brad Williamson that was deflected off Seth
Leonard's stick and landed right on Pankewicz' stick.
Six minutes later in the first period Scott Polaski scored
his first goal of the night on an assist from Riley Nelson
to take a 2 to 0 into the locker room.
Despite the four to one discrepancy in minor penalties
in the second period, the Eagles scored two goals in the
middle frame as well. Kris Wiebe scored a flukey one while
falling down that appeared to really surprise Brahmas
goalie David Cacciola and Polaski scored his second of
the night barely a minute later to put Colorado up 4 to
0 heading to the final period.
Defense and penalty killing came into play for most of
the third period as the Brahmas were given every chance
to get back in the game with the penalty minutes heavily
favoring the visitors. With two 5 on 3 power play opportunities
and Ryan Tobler accessed a fighting major and an aggressor
penalty, which included an ejection, the Texas team threw
a total of 16 shots on goal to Colorado's 6. Anders Strome,
the former Rocky Mountain Rage and Lubbock Cotton Kings
player, finally squeezed one by Laplante at 18:45 of the
third period to make the final score 4 to 1 in favor of
the home team.
Colorado Eagles Coach, Chris Stewart, whose game plan
included fast physical play, a lot of pucks on net, and
traffic in front of Cacciola was pleased with tonight's
effort but claims the Eagles are not peaking yet but are
indeed improving each game.
Game two is Sunday night at the Budweiser Events Center
in Loveland, Colorado.
Contact the author at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
2 |
Texas
0 - Colorado 2 |
| by
Terry Sanford
- PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Colorado
Leads Series 2-0 |
Loveland,
CO - On a night that saw former Eagles championship
winning goaltender and current Colorado Avalanche emergency
goalie, Tyler Weiman, in attendance another chapter was
being written in the history of Colorado Eagles Eagles
goaltending. With an amazing 35 save shutout Sebastien
Laplante tied a CHL record set only last year by former
Eagles goalie, Tim Boron, who also recorded three shutouts
in 7 playoff games.
The Texas Brahmas switched things up for this second game
in the series by starting their other highly regarded
goalie, Brett Jaeger. His incredible saves matched Laplante's
to give the fans a great goaltending show while stopping
30 of 32 shots on goal.
It was uncertain in the first 48 minutes of the game if
anyone would score. With the penalties once again handicapping
the Eagles by a significant margin, including two long
5 on 3 disadvantages, the Colorado team mustered its league
leading penalty kill to go 11 of
At 8:02 of the third period Ed McGrane's speed helped
break the the scoring drought as he cut through the Brahmas
defenders to score on Jaeger. With Steve Haddon in the
penalty box Scott Polaski scored shorthanded for the Eagles
second goal at 13:29 in the third period assisted by Riley
Nelson and Greg Pankewicz.
In the last seven minutes of the game the Colorado Eagles
spent six minutes killing penalties including the last
minutes with a six-on-four disadvantage as the Brahmas
pulled Jaeger for the extra skater. The penalty killers
persevered and the Eagles celebrated their second win
to go up 2 to 0 in the series.
The next game will be at the Texas Brahmas home arena
in Richland Hills, Texas on Wednesday, April 16.
Contact the author at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
3 |
Colorado
2 - Texas 5 |
| by
Brian McLean - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Colorado
Leads Series 2-1 |
N.
Richland Hills, TX - The Texas Brahmas went into
game three of the CHL Northern Conference Finals two games
down Wednesday night when they hosted the Colorado Eagles.
However, by 7:31 of the first period, Texas already netted
three pucks with their first three shots on goal from
the hands of Justin Kinnunen, Grant Jacobsen and Blair
Manning.
The 3-0 scoring comfort zone Texas created was short lived
as Colorado’s Kris Wiebe capitalized on an odd bounce
putting the Eagles on the board at 8:55. The teams were
dishing out hard hits, the action was fast and minor penalties
were even at four each as the period came to an end.
What was anticipated to be a high scoring game was festering
with Texas taking back the three goal lead on Jacobsen’s
second goal of the night just 56 seconds into the period.
The momentum Colorado was attempting to establish period
quickly unraveled on odd man rushes as Texas answered
with their fifth goal, their second of the period by Scott
Sheppard at 3:11.
After the first quick goal strike in the second, Eagles
goalie Sebastien Laplante was replaced by Bryan Bridges
who racked up big saves just after taking the ice. Bridges’
continuous stonewalling performance gave the Eagles a
new take on the game including several five on three advantages
that the Brahmas denied.
Bridges barrier in goal solved the Brahmas offensive unit
holding them scoreless for the remainder of the game but
the four goal difference separating Colorado from Texas
was too much to overcome. The Eagles manage one last goal,
the only score of the third period by Fraser Filipic at
4:46 on the power-play for a 5-2 final.
Texas will be looking to even the series Friday night
when they host Colorado in Game Four with a crucial Game
Five slated for Saturday night which will be the Brahmas
last game of the series on home ice.
Contact the author at brian.mclean@prohockeynews.com |
|
| Game
4 |
Colorado
3 - Texas 2 |
| by
Brian McLean - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Colorado
Leads Series 3-1 |
N.
Richland Hills, TX - The Texas Brahmas were looking
to repeat their Game 3 dominating performance over the
Colorado Eagles and even the CHL Northern Conference Finals
at two games each while seeking a pivotal Game 4 victory
Friday at the NYTex Sports Centre.
Unlike the first period of Game 3, both teams were held
scoreless. There were plenty opportunities, a Texas three-on-one
rush, a ringing goal post-ding and power-plays. The difference
maker was the impressive play in net by both Colorado’s
Sebastien Laplante and Texas’ Brett Jaeger.
The scoring chances continued until Colorado broke the
stalemate with an even strength goal by Seth Leonard at
5:03. Shortly after Colorado answered, the Eagles dodged
several rapid series as Texas was unable to solve Laplante
and his big saves with traffic in front, bouncing pucks
and two more goal post ringers.
The other defensive wall was Colorado’s penalty kill as
the Eagles denied the Brahmas on five straight man-advantages
throughout the period including a five-on-three that was
quickly negated by Grant Jacobsen on a Brahmas hooking
minor at 19:22.
The scoring lull vanished with five seconds remaining
on the Brahmas five-on-four power-play when Scott Sheppard
put Texas on the board 28 seconds into the third. Colorado
continued to pound the Texas net where they took back
the lead at 3:05 on a Ryan Tobler breakaway. Chris Thompson
and the Brahmas answered back 3:41 putting both teams
at two. The tie would be short lived.
Colorado’s Leonard capitalized on a turnover beating Jaeger
at 6:17 giving the Eagles back the lead on his second
goal, handing Texas the task to once again play catch
up. The Eagles were able to lock down the Brahmas offense
squashing shots for nearly five minutes.
With defeat imminent, the Brahmas pushed for scoring chances
but were unable to get the puck to the zone keeping Jaeger
in net until the last remaining moments. Even with the
brief extra attacker, Texas was unable to convert and
now falls to 3-1 in the series.
The defeat puts Texas in a must win situation for the
remaining three games to advance with Game 5 scheduled
for tomorrow night at the NYTex Sports Centre.
Contact the author at brian.mclean@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
5 |
Colorado
2 - Texas 3 (OT) |
| by
Terry Sanford
- PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Colorado
Leads Series 3-2 |
N.
Richland Hills, TX - As is fitting, with two such
evenly matched teams, it took nearly a full extra period
of hockey to decide the game between the Colorado Eagles
and the Texas Brahmas. Scott Shepard, one of the Brahmas
who came to Texas to play for first year Coach, Dan Wildfong,
from his old Bossier-Shreveport club, scored all three
of the Brahmas goals for the playoff hat trick.
Shepard scored his first goal at 6:40 of period one on
a power play with assists from Craig Minard and Justin
Kinnunen while Colorado defenseman Erik Adams was in the
box for hooking. True to form the team that scores first
has won every game in this series.
The Eagles worked to change that stat in Game 5 by coming
out hard in the second period. Riley Nelson scored on
a slick breakaway at 3:22 with helpers from Aaron Schneekloth
and Jason Beatty and Greg Pankewicz gave the Eagles the
lead with a power play goal assisted by Nelson and Ryan
Tobler, also in the second.
Scott Shepard scored his second goal of the game on an
assist from Blair Manning, another of his former Bossier-Shreveport
Mudbugs teammates at 12:56. The 2 to 2 tie persisted throughout
the remainder of the second period and the entire third
period as well as the first 17:57 of the overtime period
before Shepard knocked in a waist high rebound against
Sebastien Laplante for the overtime game winner.
The Colorado Eagles will host game 6 of this Northern
Conference finals on Monday, April, 21.
Contact the author at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
6 |
Texas
5 - Colorado 4 |
| by
Terry Sanford
- PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Series
Tied 3-3 |
Loveland,
CO - The second opportunity for the Colorado
Eagles to close out their series with the Brahmas yielded
the same result as the first, an Eagles loss.
At the first puck drop the Brahmas came out of the chute
skating with determination and desire while the home team
Eagles appeared flat and struggled to match the intensity
of the Texas team. Anders Strome struck first, scoring
6:55 into the game, he was assisted on the first Brahmas
goal by Mark Carragher.
Less than six minutes later Les Borsheim evened the score
at one each on a nice individual effort taking the puck
into the Brahmas zone and shooting it top shelf on Texas
goalie, Brett Jaeger.
The second period was a particularly poor period from
the defending President's Cup winners. Tyler Skworchinski,
Scott Shepard and Strome all scored for the Texas Brahmas
and the Eagles were only able to answer with one goal
by defenseman, Brad Williamson. At the end of the first
40 minutes, the Brahmas had outplayed the Eagles and had
a 4 to 2 lead to show for it.
Erik Adams got things going for the Eagles in the third
when he scored early in the period. But an ill-advised
penalty by Eagles captain Greg Pankewicz led to Strome's
completion of the hat trick and pushed the Brahmas lead
back to two goals with less than three minutes left in
the game. The late game heroics by Ed McGrane to get the
Eagles within one goal was not enough and the final score
went into the books as 5 to 4 in favor of the visiting
Texas Brahmas.
Unfortunately what will be most discussed and remembered
about this game was all of the after the final horn antics
from both teams. Eagles players Jay Birnie, Pankewicz,
Fraser Filipic and Borsheim all could face suspension
and Brahmas Carragher and Greg McConnell received game
misconducts and various other penalties.
It appeared the fisticuffs were started when Brahmas instigator,
Chris Thompson, shot a puck into the Eagles net after
the final buzzer. It did not take long for the frustrated
Eagles to let Thompson know what they thought of that
action and this led to the benches clearing as everybody
grabbed a partner and started dancing. Thompson was down
on the ice for some time after a hit by Pankewicz but
managed to leave the ice with assistance.
A series deciding Game 7 will be played between these
two teams on Wednesday, April 23.
Contact the author at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
7 |
Texas
2 - Colorado 3 |
| by
Terry Sanford
- PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Colorado
Wins Series 4-3 |
Loveland,
CO - For the seventh time in this series the team that scored the first goal went on to win the game. The Colorado Eagles not only scored that first goal but also the second and the third and needed every one of them to stave off the hard-charging Brahmas.
Speedy winger Seth Leonard was able to slip past the Texas defense to open the scoring at 6:29 of the first period with linemates Fraser Filipic and Ed McGrane assisting. Later in the period big power forward Ryan Tobler took a pass from Riley Nelson and poked the puck past Brett Jaeger for Eagles goal number two.
Just 3:31 into the second period the Colorado team got their third goal on a power play from sweet-skating Scott Polaski with helpers from Filipic and Erik Adams. That score ended the night for Brett Jaeger in goal for the Brahmas when David Cacciola was sent out to replace him.
Then it was the Brahmas turn to mount an offensive as they scored the next two goals, one from Justin Kinnunen assisted by Jordan Cameron and Grant Jacobsen and the next on a power play by Scott Shepard with Doug Krantz helping. That was all the scoring for either team as the Eagles held on defensively for the remainder of the second period and the entire third period. No goals did not mean no action for the teams as they exchanged chances several times and worked hard to extend the scoring but the final score was Colorado Eagles 3 and the Texas Brahmas 2.
The traditional orderly lineup for the handshake was carried out with a lot of back slaps and a few hugs and was a far cry from the fights and nastiness at the end of Game 6. It is always a great moment to see two teams who have fought so hard for seven long games extend their hands to one another and let the battles be done.
Contact the author at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| Power
Play |
20.3%
- 3rd |
| Penalty
Killing |
81.2%
- 11th |
| FORWARDS |
| RILEY
NELSON |
37-54-91
(+31) |
| ED
McGRANE |
35-54-89
(+13) |
| GREG
PANKEWICZ |
24-52-76
(+22) |
| DEFENSEMEN |
| AARON
SCHNEEKLOTH |
21-39-60
(+18) |
| BRAD
WILLIAMSON |
9-31-40
(+11) |
| LES
BORSHEIM |
9-13-22
(0) |
| GOALTENDERS |
| SEBASTIEN
LAPLANTE |
11-7-2
(1 SO)
3.25 GA
.912 PCT |
|
| BRYAN
BRIDGES |
8-5-2
(0 SO)
3.47 GA
.893 PCT |
|
|
|
