Eagles Storm Into Wichita, Make Noise in 8-1 Win

WICHITA, Kan. - The Colorado Eagles defeated the Wichita Thunder, 8-1, as the two teams met for the third time in a row and the final time this season. The win gave the Eagles a season sweep of the Thunder (8-0-0) and moved then within two points of the Rapid City Rush for the Northern Conference lead.

Similar to last weekend's doubleheader between the two clubs, Colorado controlled play for much of the first period, out-shooting Wichita 17-5 on the way to a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. Brett Lutes got the Eagles on the board first with a great effort at 9:16 when he stole the puck along the right midboards, cut across the goal line and stuffed it past Scott Campbell.

The Thunder tied the game at 1 with a power-play tally at 9:16 when Jason Reese sent a pass from the goal line to the left of the net to Joel Hanson crashing the crease for a tap-in. But under a minute and a half later, Ryan McLeod put Colorado back on top by putting home a Fraser Filipic rebound from the low slot.

Things got even more lopsided in the second period as the Eagles out-shot Wichita 23-4 as part of a five-goal frame (all within seven minutes and 14 seconds). The 23 shots in a single period set a new season high (they would put 50 pucks on net before the game was over, also a season high).

Colorado scored the first of those 7:28 in when Kevin Ulanski sent a pass from low along the left wing boards to Riley Nelson wide open crashing the crease; the assist gave Ulanski 97 points on the season, breaking Greg Pankewicz's franchise record.

Just 11 seconds later, off the ensuing faceoff, Filipic dug the puck out of the right corner and fed Jay Birnie for a one-timer from the slot to make it 4-1. And 21 seconds after that, Mario Joly's point shot was deflected by Lutes on the doorstep, essentially forcing Jason Duda to replace Campbell with former Eagle Ian Keserich eight minutes into the middle frame.

Keserich didn't fair much better as Ulanski made it 6-1 at 12:34 on the Eagles' 15th shots of the period (Wichita had just one at that point), as the first line converted on a tic-tac-toe play in close. And under two minutes later, McLeod netted his second of the game by stealing the puck behind the Thunder net, skating out into the left circle and beating the Wichita goalie.

The Thunder out-shot the Eagles in the third period (13-10), but Colorado was still the only team to get a goal as Andrew Penner -- great all game long -- stopped each shot in the final frame. Ed McGrane netted his 37th of the season (two off the league lead) when his shorthanded shot made its way between Keserich's left arm and body at 15:47 to account for the final score.