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

• 2004–05, 2006–07

Bud Poile Governors' Cup
CHL regular season champion

• 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09

Conference playoff championship

• 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11

Division titles

• 2003–05, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2015–16

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

• Colorado Eagles Official Website