The Colorado Eagles have taken a 3 games to 0 stranglehold over the Youngstown SteelHounds and the Wichita Thunder have moved into a 2 games to 1 lead over the highly favored Bossier-Shreveport following Wednesday night CHL playoff action. The Thunder and Mudbugs meet again Thursday in Wichita, while Colorado will have the brooms ready to try and sweep the Steelhounds Friday night in Youngstown.
Colorado never trailed Wednesday, posting a 5-2 victory despite being outshot by Youngstown by a 30-20 margin. Craig Strain opened the scoring with a power play goal midway through the first, followed shortly by an even strength goal by Youngstowns Rob Siriani. Ed McGranes shorthanded tally in the second reclaimed the Eagles one goal lead, with the game tied up again early in the third on a Shaun Landolt goal. Colorado would then score the next three, including the second and third of the night by McGrane, the latter coming into an empty net. The Steelhounds will need to make history to advance in the post-season, as no team in the 15 year history of the CHL (including the WPHL) has ever come back to win a playoff series after facing a 3-0 series deficit. Only one club, Oklahoma City in the 1998 CHL playoffs, even forced a seventh game, losing in overtime to Wichita.
Game 3 Box Score: Colorado 5 @ Youngstown 2
(Colorado Leads Series 3-0)
The upstart Wichita Thunder have gone from pretenders to contenders after taking a 2 games to 1 series lead over the top seeded Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs with a 4-1 win at the Kansas Coliseum. Kris Wiebe and Travis Clayton each scored twice, and Thunder netminder Jon Horrell continued his outstanding postseason with 24 saves, allowing only Jason Basiles power play score in the second period. With Games 4 (Thursday) and 5 (Sunday) also in Wichita, the Mudbugs need to regain form soon to slow down a confident Thunder club that appears to finally appears to be hitting their stride.
Game 3 Box Score: Bossier-Shreveport 1 @ Wichita 4
(Wichita Leads Series 2-1)
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