Colorado Eagles

Colorado Eagles
2016–17 ECHL season
City Loveland, Colorado
League ECHL
Conference Western
Division Mountain
Founded 2003 (In the CHL)
Home arena Budweiser Events Center
Colors               
Owner(s) Colorado Eagles Professional Hockey LLC
General manager Chris Stewart
Head coach Aaron Schneekloth
Media The Coloradoan
Loveland Reporter-Herald
Affiliates Colorado Avalanche (NHL)
San Antonio Rampage (AHL)
Franchise history
2003–present Colorado Eagles
Championships
Regular season titles 3 (2005, 2006, 2009)
Division Championships 7 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2016)
Conference Championships 5 (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011)
Ray Miron President's Cup 2 (2005,2007)

The Colorado Eagles are a professional ice hockey team based in Loveland, Colorado. The Eagles play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference.

The Eagles were founded as an expansion franchise in 2003 in the Central Hockey League and remained in the league until June 2011. During their time in the CHL, the Eagles won two Ray Miron President's Cups, three regular season titles, five conference titles and six division titles in eight seasons. The Eagles play at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland and serves the Fort Collins-Loveland metropolitan area.

Franchise history

Central Hockey League era (2003–2011)

The franchise was founded in 2003 by former Montreal Canadiens player Ralph Backstrom.[1] The Eagles advanced to the playoffs in their first season and won the CHL championship in their second season, 2004–05. They won their division in 2005–06, but lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, after having defeated the Oklahoma City Blazers in the first round. They would again win the CHL Championship in 2006–07, defeating the Laredo Bucks four games to two in the Cup Finals.

After the 2007–08 season, coach Chris Stewart retired, and Kevin McClelland was named as his replacement. Following the 2009–10 season, McClelland was not retained and Stewart - who had been working as team president and general manager since leaving the bench – resumed head coaching duties.

During the 2008–09 season, the Eagles hosted the 2009 CHL All-Star Game and took on a group of CHL All-Stars from various teams. The exhibition took place on January 14, 2009, at the Budweiser Events Center, with the Eagles defeating the CHL All-Stars, 8-4.

Move to ECHL (2011–present)

During the 2011 Ray Miron President's Cup playoffs, the Eagles had been rumored to be transferring to the ECHL following the completion of the playoffs.[2][3] Former International Hockey League commissioner Dennis Hextall has stated that he had heard that the Colorado Eagles may already be included in the ECHL's tentative schedule for the 2011–12 season.[4]

On May 29, 2011, KEVN-TV in Rapid City, South Dakota reported that Colorado was to move to the ECHL in time for the 2011–12 season.[5] The following day, the team announced that they would have a press conference on May 31 at the Budweiser Events Center and that local media were urged to attend and fans urged to listen to the press conference online or on a local radio station.[6] At the press conference, Head Coach, General Manager and President Chris Stewart announced that the team had been accepted as an expansion franchise in the ECHL for the 2011–12 season.

In August 2011, the Eagles were assigned to the Western Conference's Mountain Division as part of the league realignment for the 2011–12 ECHL season.[7]

They served as the second-tier affiliate of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and the American Hockey League's St. John's IceCaps until the end of the 2012–13 hockey season[8] and then as the Calgary Flames and Adirondack Flames affiliate during the 2014–15 season.

In July 2016, head coach Chris Stewart retired as coach for the second time but remained with the organization as general manager.[9] He was replaced by assistant coach and longtime Eagles player, Aaron Schneekloth.[10] On July 20, the Eagles announced a four-year affiliation with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and the AHL's San Antonio Rampage after one season of playing independent of affiliations.[11]

Season records

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime/shootout losses or tie, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of end of the 2015–16 ECHL season.[12]

Season GP W L OTL Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
Central Hockey League
2003–04 64 43 16 5 91 232 156 1453 1st, Northwest Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–3 (Wichita)
2004–05 60 43 10 7 93 221 123 1345 1st, Northwest Ray Miron President's Cup Champions, 4–1 (Laredo)
2005–06 64 44 14 6 94 241 183 1898 1st, Northwest Lost in Conference Finals, 1–4 (Bossier-Shreveport)
2006–07 64 46 17 1 93 256 182 1944 1st, Northwest Ray Miron President's Cup Champions, 4–2 (Laredo)
2007–08 64 37 20 7 81 254 223 1637 1st, Northwest Lost in Ray Miron President's Cup Finals, 0–4 (Arizona)
2008–09 64 45 15 4 94 275 195 1429 1st, Northwest Lost in Ray Miron President's Cup Finals, 1–4 (Texas)
2009–10 64 42 15 7 91 277 208 1557 2nd, Northern Lost in Conference Semifinals, 0–4 (Bossier-Shreveport)
2010–11 66 40 22 4 84 250 199 1352 2nd, Turner Lost in Ray Miron President's Cup Finals, 3–4 (Bossier-Shreveport)
ECHL
2011–12 72 38 28 6 82 250 252 1485 2nd, Mountain Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–3 (Stockton)
2012–13 72 34 31 7 75 239 224 1534 3rd, Mountain Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2–4 (Idaho)
2013–14 71 33 26 12 78 211 218 1158 4th, Mountain Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2–4 (Idaho)
2014–15 71 41 23 8 90 236 209 1457 3rd, Pacific Lost in Division Semifinals, 3–4 (Ontario)
2015–16 72 41 27 4 86 232 193 1427 1st, West Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2–4 (Utah)

Players

Current roster

Updated December 3, 2016[13]
# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
27 Canada Bootland, DarrylDarryl Bootland (A) F R 35 2014 Schomberg, Ontario Eagles
7 Canada Garbowsky, MattMatt Garbowsky C L 26 2016 St. George, Ontario Eagles
5 Canada Hamonic, JustinJustin Hamonic D R 22 2016 Winnipeg, Manitoba Rampage
22 Canada Harrison, RyanRyan Harrison C R 24 2016 Vernon, British Columbia Eagles
14 Canada Houck, JacksonJackson Houck RW R 21 2016 North Vancouver, British Columbia Eagles
9 Canada Lazo, JohnnyJohnny Lazo  C R 27 2016 Winnipeg, Manitoba Eagles
1 Canada Lieuwen, NathanNathan Lieuwen G L 25 2016 Abbotsford, British Columbia Rampage
25 United States Marto, JakeJake Marto D L 30 2015 Grand Forks, North Dakota Eagles
29 Canada Mychan, JesseJesse Mychan LW L 24 2015 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Eagles
20 Canada Nicholls, JoshJosh Nicholls RW R 24 2016 Richmond, British Columbia Eagles
21 Canada Nyren, GiffenGiffen Nyren D R 27 2015 Calgary, Alberta Eagles
15 Canada O'Donnell, ConorConor O'Donnell LW L 27 2016 Hamilton, Ontario Eagles
10 Canada Pierro-Zabotel, CaseyCasey Pierro-Zabotel C L 28 2016 Kamloops, British Columbia Eagles
43 Canada Register, MattMatt Register D L 27 2016 Calgary, Alberta Eagles
19 United States Salazar, LukeLuke Salazar W R 28 2016 Thornton, Colorado Eagles
33 Canada Saunders, ClarkeClarke Saunders G L 27 2014 Brockville, Ontario Eagles
4 United States Sdao, MichaelMichael Sdao D L 27 2016 Bloomington, Minnesota Eagles
18 Canada Zahn, TeiganTeigan Zahn (A) D L 26 2014 Regina, Saskatchewan Eagles
8 United States Zimmerman, SeanSean Zimmerman (C) D R 29 2014 Denver, Colorado Eagles

Retired numbers

Colorado Eagles retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
12 Riley Nelson C 2003–2014 December 12, 2014[14]
17 Ryan Tobler LW 2003–2010 March 27, 2015[15]
89 Greg Pankewicz RW 2003–2009 October 16, 2009.[16]

Awards and honors

Ray Miron President's Cup
CHL playoff champion

Bud Poile Governors' Cup
CHL regular season champion

Conference playoff championship

Division titles

References

  1. ↑ Scott, Jon C. (2006). Hockey Night in Dixie: Minor Pro Hockey in the American South. Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd. p. 163. ISBN 1-894974-21-2.
  2. ↑ Sandalow, Brian (April 30, 2011). "Icy future awaiting Bees?". The Monitor. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  3. ↑ Cohn, Justin A. (May 6, 2011). "Lots of excitement". The Journal Gazette. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  4. ↑ DeVrieze, Craig (April 29, 2011). "Change rumors swirl in the CHL". Quad-City Times. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
  5. ↑ Coppock, Cory (May 29, 2011). "Colorado Eagles moving to ECHL". KEVN-TV. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  6. ↑ Press release (May 30, 2011). "Eagles schedule new conference for Tuesday". The Coloradoan. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  7. ↑ Press release (August 1, 2011). "Annual ECHL Board of Governors meeting concludes". ECHL. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  8. ↑ Press release (May 14, 2013). "Jets cut ties to ECHL club". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Chris Stewart retires as Colorado Eagles coach". Fort Collins Coloradoan. July 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Colorado Eagles name Aaron Schneekloth to replace Chris Stewart". Reporter-Herald. July 18, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Eagles Announce Affiliation with Colorado Avalanche". OurSports Central. July 20, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Colorado Eagles season statistics and records". Hockeydb.com. 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  13. ↑ "Colorado Eagles playing roster". 2016-06-04. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  14. ↑ "Former Eagles captain Riley Nelson settling into life after hockey". Reporter-Herald. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2014-12-11.
  15. ↑ "Ryan Tobler honored to have Colorado Eagles retire his number". Reporter-Herald. 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  16. ↑ "Pankewicz retires becomes assistant coach". Colorado Eagles. 2009-08-10. Retrieved 2009-10-12.

External links

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