Wichita – The Colorado Eagles will play in the Central Hockey League’s championship series in only their second season, advancing to the Presidents Cup with a 3-1 win over the Wichita Thunder on Wednesday night in the Northern Conference finals.
The Eagles won the series 4-2.
The Eagles scored the game’s first goal at 12:33 of the first period, when Lee Ruff jammed in a rebound in traffic in front of Wichita goalie Jason Flick. It was the third goal of the playoffs for Ruff, who had only five during the regular season.
The Thunder tied it with under a minute remaining in the first period on a two-man advantage, when the Eagles’ Greg Pankewicz was sent off for tripping and, eight seconds later, Aaron Grosul went for cross-checking. Scott Allison lit the lamp with four-tenths of a second left in the period.
The Eagles killed the rest of Wichita’s power play to start the second period, and then missed two power-play opportunities of their own.
The third period looked like a repeat of the second until Sean Robertson scored the game-winning goal with just 47 seconds remaining off a feed from Kevin Marsh.
Pankewicz added an empty netter with four seconds remaining to clinch the victory.
The Eagles dominated play throughout the third period, outshooting the Thunder 13-4, but were thwarted until the final moments by Flick.
Flick was matched by the Eagles’ Paulo Colaiacovo, who made his first start of the postseason and saved 23 of 24 shots.
It was sweet revenge for Colorado, which was bumped out of the playoffs by the Thunder a season ago.
Colorado will play the Laredo Bucks for the Presidents Cup. The format is 2-3-2, with the Eagles hosting the first two games at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland. The league will finalize the schedule this afternoon.
Colorado has played the Bucks only once this season, winning 2-0 in Laredo on Jan. 15.
Colorado 1 0 2 – 3
Wichita 1 0 0 – 1
First period -1, Colorado, Ruff (Marsh, Robertson) 12:33. 2, Wichita, Allison (Clayton, Blaznek) (pp), 19:59. Penalties – Tobler, Colorado (high-sticking) 4:59. Esdale, Wichita (holding the stick) 6:36. Parker, Wichita (roughing) 12:33. Robertson, Colorado (roughing) 12:33. Colaiacovo, Colorado (holding) 16:39. Pankewitz, Colorado (tripping) 19:41. Grosul, Colorado (cross checking) 19:49.
Second period – None. Penalties – Mazurak, Wichita (hooking) 1:12. Duda, Wichita (tripping) 4:00. Lephart, Colorado (hooking) 5:57. Duda, Wichita (high-sticking) 9:24. Cook, Colorado (interference 14:20.
Third period -3, Colorado, Robertson (Marsh) 19:13. 4, Colorado, Pankewitz (en) 19:56. Penalties – None.
Shots on goal – Colorado 12-10-13-35. Wichita 14-6-4-24. Power-play opportunities – Colorado 0 of 4, Wichita 1 of 6. Goalies – Colorado, Paulo Colaiacovo 24 shots-23 saves. Wichita, Jason Flick 34-32. A – 4,219.
