Loveland – The Central Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles have sold out every home game at the Budweiser Events Center since the franchise began play in 2003, and their best player – minor-league superstar Greg Pankewicz – sometimes feels as if he has met everybody in the house.
“We know the 5,289 people,” Pankewicz said with a smile, sitting in the Eagles’ dressing room. “We’ve had a beer with them somewhere. We’ve played a round of golf with them. We’ve run into them at the mall. We’ve seen them at kids’ hockey camps. It’s an extended family, and it’s really cool to be a part of it.”
Wrapping up their fourth season in the CHL, the Eagles are going after their second Ray Miron President’s Cup in the league championship series against the Laredo Bucks. Pankewicz had two goals in the 6-2 Sunday night victory in Loveland that gave Colorado a 2-0 lead in the series that now shifts to the Texas border city for the next three games, if necessary.
At age 36, Pankewicz has become the face of the franchise, and in Northern Colorado, that means in places other than the arena. At what amounts to hockey’s Class AA, salaries are tightly controlled, with an $10,000 weekly cap for the entire roster. (That’s a typical NHL salary for one player … for one period.)
Each team can have only four “veteran” players with 280 or more games of professional experience. The Eagles’ four-man group is Pankewicz, a right wing who had brief stints with Ottawa and Calgary in the NHL; center Riley Nelson, 29; left wing Ryan Tobler, who turned 31 on Sunday; and defenseman Brad Williamson, 30.
The four have been with the Eagles since the inaugural season, and have been a part of a bond between the franchise and the communities along the burgeoning Northern Colorado I-25 corridor that seems to get stronger every year. The team’s other top player, former Colorado College center Chris Hartsburg, the 2005 league playoff MVP when the Eagles won their first CHL championship, is finishing his third season with the franchise.
Why are they here?
At least Pankewicz and Tobler arguably still are good enough to be on the American Hockey League level, where they were significant contributors earlier in their careers, but aren’t mainly because NHL teams want their “prospects” playing there.
That’s one reason.
Sometimes the nobility of minor-league players is exaggerated. Whether in hockey or any other sport, they wouldn’t hang up the phone if a big-league general manager called. The baseball “seamhead” mentality especially gets carried away with turning bus rides and four guys to an apartment into some sort of literary metaphor or romantic adventure, and also with downplaying highly paid players’ own affinity for what they do.
Yet in the Eagles’ media guide, Nelson lists his favorite movie as “For Love of the Game.”
That hints at the bigger reason, especially for the older players who in theory could be subjected to pressure to put away their toys and get on with their lives.
But for Colorado players, it can be a combination of being able to continue collecting a paycheck (however small) to play a game, plus having the option to begin the transition to a post-hockey life and career.
Veterans find there are perks to playing for Colorado. Teams can offer housing allowances or pick up living expenses, and most Eagles live in the Water Valley development near the arena. Also, because Eagles co-owner Ralph Backstrom – the one-time Montreal Canadiens center and University of Denver head coach – has nurtured extensive contacts in the business community, playing for Colorado can lead to post-hockey careers in the booming area.
“I’m pretty sure all four of us will settle and live here for the rest of our lives,” said Pankewicz, whose wife, Charmaine, is a nurse who recently moved to the new Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. “We’ve got a real loyal following and we appreciate them as much as they appreciate what we do on the ice.”
Pankewicz has started to work, mostly in the summers, for a firm that sells construction materials to home builders. His daughter, Taylor, is in the first grade.
“We’re fortunate to be in a real solid community, where it’s safe and everybody looks out for one another,” he said.
On the hockey front, he jokes, “They’re going to have to throw me out, I guess.”
Tobler, whose NHL run was four games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, laughed.
“As long as they keep giving me skates and sticks, I’ll keep playing,” he said. “I think I’ve got something left. ‘Panks’ is 36 and he’s still doing it, and that’s inspiring. … Would I like to have played longer in the NHL or still be there? Well, who wouldn’t? That was my dream growing up. Realistically, my dream’s probably dead, but I got there and made my old man proud, and that’s the stuff that will stick with me.
“I’d jumped around a lot before I got here, and I guess you go where the opportunities are. But coming here has been unbelievable. The biggest difference is the family atmosphere, with teammates, the coaching staff, ownership, fans, people you meet in the community. I think that’s the biggest thing that has stuck with me.”
Nelson has a degree in industrial management from Michigan Tech, and he has been married less than a year. He and his wife, Colleen, own a home in Water Valley.
“My wife supports me 100 percent,” he said. “You’re not making the money you’d like to make, but not everybody’s doing what they want to do. I’m at the older part of my career now, so I don’t think they’re going to be knocking down my door now. But I don’t think there’s a better place you could play in minor professional sports.
“The energy and what the people bring to the building every night is the same as it was from Day One. The only thing that’s changed is the relationships we’ve formed with the community and with the investors, and things like that. You really get a chance to be part of the community here.”
With the Eagles perhaps on the verge of their second league championship in four seasons, this is clear, too: Winning helps.
Eagles’ core
The face of veteran leadership has Colorado soaring high in the Central Hockey League playoffs
GREG PANKEWICZ, RW
Age: 36
NHL career: Three games with Ottawa in 1993-94 and 28 with Calgary in 1998-99.
Notable: After playing major junior for Regina, the Alberta native has been a minor-league superstar for most of his 16-season pro career. He has scored 512 career goals in 1,010 regular-season games in four leagues, and was the Central League’s MVP two years ago.
RILEY NELSON, C
Age: 29
Notable: The British Columbia native played four seasons at Michigan Tech and is in his seventh pro season. Has had two brief stints in the American Hockey League, but has blossomed into a big-time scorer in the United Hockey League and the CHL. Had 41 goals in the 64-game regular season for the Eagles in 2006-07.
RYAN TOBLER, LW
Age: 31
NHL career: Four games with Tampa Bay in 2001-02.
Notable: Another Albertan, he played major junior for Swift Current – several years behind Joe Sakic – and had a solid stay in the sport’s Triple-A level before joining the Eagles. Has scored 108 goals in four seasons with Colorado.
BRAD WILLIAMSON, D
Age: 30
Notable: Had a full four-season college career at North Dakota, playing on an NCAA champion in 1997. Played two seasons in the International Hockey League, then two in the ECHL before joining the Eagles. The CHL’s defenseman of the year this season.
CHRIS HARTSBURG, C
Age: 26
Notable: Son of former NHL defenseman and coach Craig Hartsburg. A solid four-season career at Colorado College before spending two seasons as New Jersey Devils farmhand at Albany, and then coming to Colorado. League’s playoff MVP in 2005.
Staff writer Terry Frei can be reached at 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
