Kevin Ulanski and Ed McGrane celebrate McGrane's overtime goal at the Budweiser Events Center

Eagles even series with 5-4 overtime win

Brahmas, series return to NYTEX

The Colorado Eagles fended off another third period Brahmas comeback to force Game Two of the Ray Miron Presiden't Cup series into overtime, where they won, 5-4. Ed McGrane fired a one-timer into the back of the net on a 4-on-3 power play to send the series back to Texas tied 1-1.

The Eagles, from the start, came out playing much better than they did in Game One. Needing to make a statement early, they started off the scoring at the 2:03 mark when Riley Nelson took control of a loose puck at the top of the right circle. Nelson one-timed it and his shot buzzed past Brett Jaeger for the 1-0 lead. Jay Birnie and Adam Hogg were credited with the assist.

"I just came off the bench and the puck was turned over. It came out to the high slot so I just tried to get a shot off. I think he (Jaeger) was screened on it, " Nelson told Prohockeynews.com's Terry Sanford. "It was exciting to get up early in a game like that with the emotion running high. You want to keep rolling with it."

The Brahmas remained focused and although they gave up several turnovers, their defense did a great job holding off the Eagle attack.

Having failed to build on the momentum of Nelson's goal, the Eagles began to lose discipline in the final ten minutes of the first frame and found themselves spending too much time in the sin bin. They were called for four undisciplined stick penalties.

Brett Hammond was the first to go with a tripping call at the 10:47 mark. Next was Adam Hogg for high sticking at the 13:49 mark. Greg Pankewicz then drew a double minor for tripping and slashing after hitting Jordan Cameron in the left ear along the end boards. This created a 5-on-3 for 29 seconds and gave the Brahmas a four-minute power play.

The Brahmas scored one minute into the power play when Scott Sheppard took a feed from Jason Deitsch and sent his shot from the right face off circle high to the glove side, beating Andrew Penner to tie the game at the 15:30 mark. Kevin McLeod was also credited with the assist.

41 seconds later, Jason Beatty was called for high-sticking Deitsch and the Brahmas found themselves on their second consecutive 5-on-3. The Brahmas would capitalize again when Deitsch sent a pass from the near wall to the far boards where Scott Sheppard was waiting. Sheppard sent his shot in to the top left hand corner to beat Penner again and at the 17:43 mark, the Brahmas took the 2-1 lead.

The Brahmas narrowly led the shot count after 20 minutes, 9-8.

Jordan Cameron had an early scoring opportunity in the second period, coming in alone on Penner after a beautiful feed from Kevin McLeod, but the Eagles goaltender did a good job reading the play and made the stop at the corner of the net.

A few minutes later, a high-sticking call on Jason Deitsch would result in a power play goal for the Eagles. With just four seconds left on the man-advantage, Adam Hogg sent a shot in from the right circle. Brett Jaeger managed to block it, but the puck bounced to a waiting Aaron Schneekloth who kicked it to Konrad Reeder. Reeder was able to tap it in to even the score at the 7:16 mark.

Later in the period, a holding call on Craig Minard led to another goal by the Eagles. Scott Polaski took a cross-ice pass from Adam Hogg and ripped a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle that deflected off the skate of defenseman Nathan Saunders and into the net for the 3-2 lead at the 14:27 mark. The goal came just as the power play ended. Erik Adams was also credited with the assist.

It was a much better period for the Eagles as they were only called for one penalty. The Brahmas, on the other hand, had two penalties and both led to power play goals for the Eagles. The Eagles also dominated the shots on goal with a 17-9 advantage in the middle frame. It was the second period in a row that the Eagles held the Brahmas to nine shots.

The third period was fast-paced and the Brahmas came out with determined intensity, but it was the Eagles who scored first to take a 4-2 lead at the 3:19 mark. Brett Hammond sent a pass to Adam Hogg, whose shot rang off the post but Jay Birnie was waiting on the doorstep and sent the rebound in past Jaeger for the insurance goal.

After a timeout was taken by Dan Wildfong, the Brahmas came back to the ice and scored almost immediately. Texas won the ensuing faceoff at center ice. Justin Kinnunen managed to keep the puck away from an attacking Kevin Ulanski and jammed the puck behind the net where Scott Sheppard took it and sent the feed to Jason Deitch. Deitsch beat Penner to score his sixth post-season goal and bring the Brahmas to within one at 4-3.

Just over five minutes later, the Brahmas caught a lucky break when Conrad Reeder coughed up the puck in his own zone and Brandon Benedict was there to retrieve it. Benedict skated in unopposed and sent a wrister past Penner. The shorthanded, unassisted goal at the 8:58 mark tied the game up at 4-4.

The second half of the period grew more heated and physical, but neither team was able to break the tie and the overtime period became inevitable.

The Brahmas had not seen overtime thus far in the playoffs. The Eagles had been there four times, twice against Shreveport-Bossier City and once against Mississippi. The Eagles won 3 of 4.

“We knew it was gonna be a long game,” McGrane told the Greeley Tribune, on going into overtime. “But we’ve been in this situation before.”

Things heated up in overtime and after a tussle behind the Brahmas' net, both Greg McConnell and Greg Pankewicz were sent to the penalty box for roughing. 20 seconds later, Justin Kinnunen took a costly penalty for slashing Riley Nelson's stick out of his hands on a partial breakaway.

on the resulting 4-on-3, it was Ed McGrane who would score the game-winning goal 38 seconds later from the far-right blue line.

"Schneeks (Aaron Schneekloth) and Nellie (Riley Nelson) were playing catch with it (the puck) a bit." said McGrane about his game-winning score. "I just tried to find a soft spot on the opposite side there. I made up my mind as soon as it came to me I was firing it so that's what I did and I was fortunate it went in."

Andrew Penner earned the win, stopping 29 of 33 shots. He is 9-3 in the playoffs with a 2.98 GAA and a .883 save percentage.

Brett Jaeger took the loss, stopping 33 of 38 shot. He is 9-4 in the playoffs with a 2.16 GAA and a .932 save percentage.

The Brahmas were assessed 12 minutes on six infractions. The Eagles were assessed 18 minutes on nine infractions. The Brahmas went 2 for 8 on the power play and the Eagles went 2 for 5.

The 3rd star went to Scott Sheppard who had two goals and an assist on the night. The 2nd star went to Colorado's Adam Hogg who had four assists (on each regulation goal) and the 1st star went to Ed McGrane for his game-winning goal in OT, his third in the post-season.

You can view the box score here

The series moves to Texas, where the Brahmas will host the next three games at the NYTEX Sports Centre. Game Three will take place on Sunday afternoon at 3:05pm. Game Four is set for Tuesday at 7:05pm and Game Five will be on Wednesday at 7:05pm.

The Eagles are trying to become the second team in Central Hockey League post-season history to win a best-of-seven series after losing the series opener. The Brahmas and their fans will have much to do to prevent that from happening.

Don’t forget to wear your purple! The Brahmas are having "Purple Out" when they host the CHL Finals series beginning Sunday afternoon. The first 1,000 fans in attendance to the NYTEX Sports Centre will receive a purple CHL Finals t-shirt courtesy of TexComm.

Photo Credit: Eric Bellamy/Greeley Tribune