The Colorado Eagles rebounded from a 2-0 first period deficit by answering with the final five goals of the contest to take a 1-0 series lead Friday evening at the Budweiser Events Center in Game 1 of the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals. Colorado defenseman Aaron Schneekloth potted the deciding goal midway through the second period for his third game winner of the playoffs, handing Laredo their first loss of the post-season (now 9-1) when scoring first.

Game 1 Box Score: Laredo 2 @ Colorado 5
Colorado Leads Series 1-0
The Bucks, 12-2 all-time in playoff series openers, had an early 2-0 lead despite several quality Eagles chances in the first period. Laredo’s Serge Dube opened the scoring at the 9:33 mark with a power play goal, followed up quickly by a Jeff Bes, tally, with Bes stealing the puck from Eagles Captain Greg Pankewicz and beating former Buck Marco Emond with a nifty forehand/backhand move on a breakaway.

The Eagles responded early in the second period, with Pankewicz converting a power play opportunity 45 seconds in with a hard slap shot from the high post past Eric Marvin. 39 seconds later the game was tied, with Ed McGrane scoring his ninth of the playoffs with a wraparound score. The winner came on a Schneekloth snap shot, using a Laredo defenseman as a screen to beat Marvin from a wide angle to take a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Colorado extended their lead to 4-2 4:15 into the third with a fortunate bounce, as Seth Leonard intercepted a breakout pass and fired a hard shot that deflected off a Bucks defenseman and into the net. The Bucks nearly closed the gap to 4-3 late in the third on a Steve Simoes wraparound attempt into a partially open net, but his fanned shot failed to connect. With the Bucks on a later power play and with Marvin pulled for an extra attacker, Pankewicz picked up a loose puck and buried it into an empty net to make the final score 5-2. Game 1 also featured two fights, both involving Colorado’s Fraser Filipic, who took on Chris Korchinski in the first period and Neil Clark in the second.

Colorado outshot Laredo 33-22 in the contest, with Emond improving to 8-4 with 20 saves, and Marvin dropping to 7-2 and making 28 stops. Historically, teams winning Game 1 of the Finals have been hugely successful, going on to win the series in 18 of 19 past CHL/WPHL Finals.


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