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Colorado Eagles

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For the Mountain-Pacific passenger train, see Colorado Eagle.
Colorado Eagles
CityLoveland, Colorado
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
ConferenceWestern
DivisionPacific
Founded2003 (In the CHL)
Home arenaBlue Arena
Colors       
Owner(s)Colorado Eagles Professional Hockey LLC
General managerKevin McDonald
Head coachAaron Schneekloth
CaptainJayson Megna
Media
AffiliatesColorado Avalanche (NHL)
Utah Grizzlies (ECHL)
Franchise history
2003–presentColorado Eagles
Championships
Regular season titles3 (2005, 2006, 2009)
Division titles8 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2018)
Conference titles7 (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2018)
Ray Miron President's Cup2 (2005, 2007)
Kelly Cups2 (2017, 2018)
Current season

The Colorado Eagles are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Loveland, Colorado. The Eagles play in the Pacific Division of the American Hockey League.

The Eagles were founded as an expansion franchise in 2003 in the Central Hockey League and remained in the league until June 2011, when they joined the ECHL. 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 team was granted a membership as an expansion team in the American Hockey League beginning with the 2018–19 season as the affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League.

The Eagles play at the Blue Arena in Loveland and serve the Fort Collins – Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Franchise history

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Central Hockey League era (2003–2011)

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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 (2011–2018)

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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][12] In their first season with the Avalanche affiliation, the Eagles would go on to finish second in the Mountain Division of the ECHL and then win the Kelly Cup as the 2017 playoffs champions. In their last season in the ECHL in 2017–18, the Eagles finished with back-to-back Kelly Cups with the 2018 playoff championship. Traditionally, the Kelly Cup is held by the winning team during the following season and returned before the playoffs, but the Eagles did not return the trophy to the league after leaving for the AHL and it had to be replaced.[13][14][15] They eventually sent it to the 2019 ECHL champion Newfoundland Growlers before opening night of the 2019–20 ECHL season.[16]

Move to the AHL

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For the 2017–18 season, the National Hockey League added the Vegas Golden Knights as a 31st team. The approval of a new NHL team also led to discussions of adding a 31st team in the American Hockey League.[17] With the Golden Knights choosing to affiliate with the Chicago Wolves instead of adding their own AHL expansion team, talks with other organizations were opened. The owners and managers of the Eagles began discussions with the Avalanche with interests into becoming an AHL expansion for the 2018–19 season.[18] On October 10, 2017, the Avalanche and the Eagles officially announced that the club would be promoted to the AHL in 2018.[19][20]

The Avalanche hired Greg Cronin as the Eagles' first AHL head coach and retained former head coach Aaron Schneekloth as an assistant.[21] Cronin remained in the role for the Eagles first five seasons, qualifying for the playoff in each year. Prior to the 2022–23 season, the Avalanche announced a restructure of their executive committee with Kevin McDonald hired and introduced as the incoming Eagles General Manager, with Craig Billington re-assigned to other duties within the organization.[22][23]

With the departure of Cronin, following his unveiling as the head coach of the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL, Schneekloth was re-instated as the Colorado Eagles head coach on July 7, 2023.[24]

Media appearances

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Although the Eagles have been a relatively small team to the media, they have been featured many times. In 2004, the Eagles signed a contract with Altitude Sports and Entertainment to broadcast up to 10 games plus postseason games each year.[25] The first TV broadcast for the Eagles was on November 5, 2004, against the New Mexico Scorpions that was broadcast on Altitude. Altitude and the Eagles parted ways in 2015 as the last broadcast was in the 2015 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Notable games that Altitude broadcast include the 2005 Ray Miron President's Cup Game 5 where the Eagles won their first Presidents Cup. As well as the 2007 Ray Miron President's Cup Game 6 where the Eagles won their second Presidents Cup. More Broadcasts include the 2009 CHL All-Star Game and the 2013 ECHL All-Star Game, both hosted at Blue Arena (formerly Budweiser Events Center).

Altitude also hosted the NoCo Hockey Show in the late 2000s which was a monthly TV Show that featured Eagles highlights and Community events.

The Eagles Play-by-Play Commentators varied from 2004-06 between Mike Haynes and Doug McLeod with Peter McNab as the Color commentator. From 2006 to 2009, Tori Holt, who was the commentator for the Eagles on the radio from 2003 to 06, was the Commentator with Kevin McGlue as the Color Commentator. McGlue now does the Radio Commentary for the Eagles.

The Eagles are now broadcast on AHL.TV and on the radio on KKPL 99.9 The Point. The Eagles were formerly on KPAW 107.9 The Bear.

The Eagles have also been recognized nationally by 2 Sportscenter appearances. One appearance was in 2007 when Greg Pankewicz scored an incredible goal in Game 7 of the second round of the 2007 President's Cup Playoffs against the Oklahoma City Blazers where he lifted the puck over the defender's stick, knocked it around the defender with his stick, and made a diving finish to put the puck in the net.

Season records

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Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL=shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of end of the 2023–24 AHL season.[26]

Regular season Playoffs
Season GP W L OTL SOL Pts GF GA PIM Finish Year Prelims 1st round 2nd round 3rd round Finals
Central Hockey League
2003–04 64 43 16 0 5 91 232 156 1453 1st, Northwest 2004 — — L, 1–3, WIC — —
2004–05 60 43 10 5 2 93 221 123 1345 1st, Northwest 2005 — — W, 4–1, TUL W, 4–2, WIC W, 4–1, LAR
2005–06 64 44 14 0 6 94 241 183 1898 1st, Northwest 2006 — — W, 4–3, OKC L, 1–4, BS —
2006–07 64 46 17 0 1 93 256 182 1944 1st, Northwest 2007 — W, 4–2, YNG W, 4–3, OKC W, 4–2, MEM W, 4–2, LAR
2007–08 64 37 20 2 5 81 254 223 1637 1st, Northwest 2008 — BYE W, 4–1, YNG W, 4–3, TEX L, 0–4, ARZ
2008–09 64 45 15 1 3 94 275 195 1429 1st, Northwest 2009 — BYE W, 4–0, BS W, 4–2, MIS L, 1–4, TEX
2009–10 64 42 15 5 2 91 277 208 1557 2nd, Northern 2010 — BYE L, 0–4, BS — —
2010–11 66 40 22 2 2 84 250 199 1352 2nd, Turner 2011 — W, 3–1, QC W, 3–1, MO W, 4–3, RC L, 3–4 BS
ECHL
2011–12 72 38 28 1 5 82 250 252 1485 2nd, Mountain 2012 — L, 0–3, STK — — —
2012–13 72 34 31 3 4 75 239 224 1534 3rd, Mountain 2013 — L, 2–4, IDA — — —
2013–14 71 33 26 7 5 78 211 218 1158 4th, Mountain 2014 — L, 2–4, IDA — — —
2014–15 72 41 23 4 4 90 236 209 1457 3rd, Pacific 2015 — L, 3–4, ONT — — —
2015–16 72 41 27 3 1 86 232 193 1427 1st, West 2016 — L, 2–4, UTA — — —
2016–17 72 47 20 2 3 99 265 206 1415 2nd, Mountain 2017 — W, 4–1, IDA W, 4–2, ALN W, 4–1, TOL W, 4–0 SC
2017–18 72 48 18 4 2 102 265 214 1377 1st, Mountain 2018 — W, 4–2, WIC W, 4–0, IDA W, 4–3, FW W, 4–3, FLA
American Hockey League
2018–19 68 36 27 4 1 77 191 205 1114 4th, Pacific 2019 — L, 1–3, BAK — — —
2019–20 56 34 18 3 1 72 188 162 683 2nd, Pacific 2020 Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 34 15 15 3 1 34 101 104 318 5th, Pacific 2021[a] — OTW, 5–4, ONT L, 1–5, SJ — —
2021–22 68 39 22 4 3 85 244 207 815 3rd, Pacific 2022 W, 2–0, HSK W, 3–0, ONT L, 1–3, STK — —
2022–23 72 40 22 7 3 90 210 187 1000 3rd, Pacific 2023 W, 2–0, ONT L, 2–3, CV — — —
2023–24 72 40 25 5 2 87 215 195 1029 4th, Pacific 2024 L, 1–2, ABB — — — —
  1. ^ The 2021 Calder Cup playoffs were not held; the Pacific Division held a postseason tournament for the division title. The bottom four teams had single-elimination play-in games to qualify for the semifinals (the first two rounds). The division semifinals and finals were best-of-three for the John D. Chick Trophy (the last two rounds).

Players

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Current roster

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Updated November 20, 2024.[27]

Team roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
5 United States Wyatt Aamodt D L 26 2022 Hermantown, Minnesota Avalanche
18 United States Jack Ahcan D L 27 2023 Savage, Minnesota Avalanche
39 United States Jacob Barczewski G L 25 2024 O'Fallon, Missouri Eagles
2 United States Sean Behrens Injured Reserve D L 21 2024 Barrington, Illinois Avalanche
38 United States Chase Bradley LW L 22 2024 St. Louis, Missouri Avalanche
48 Canada Tye Felhaber F L 26 2024 Pembroke, Ontario Eagles
93 Canada Jean-Luc Foudy C R 22 2021 Toronto, Ontario Avalanche
45 United States Chad Hillebrand LW L 25 2024 Park Ridge, Illinois Eagles
22 Finland Jere Innala LW L 26 2024 Hauho, Finland Avalanche
55 Slovakia Maros Jedlicka LW L 22 2024 Trnava, Slovakia Eagles
4 United States Jacob MacDonald D L 31 2024 Portland, Oregon Avalanche
57 Canada Keaton Mastrodonato C R 24 2024 Powell River, British Columbia Eagles
72 United States Connor Mayer D L 25 2024 Champlin, Minnesota Eagles
21 United States Jayson Megna (C) C R 34 2024 Fort Lauderdale, Florida Eagles
67 Canada Keaton Middleton (A) D L 26 2020 Stratford, Ontario Avalanche
50 Canada Trent Miner G R 23 2021 Souris, Manitoba Avalanche
24 Sweden Oskar Olausson RW L 22 2022 Stockholm, Sweden Avalanche
68 Czech Republic Ondrej Pavel C L 24 2023 Prague, Czech Republic Avalanche
54 Canada Matthew Phillips RW R 26 2024 Calgary, Alberta Avalanche
85 Russia Nikita Prishchepov LW L 20 2024 Orenburg, Russia Avalanche
41 United States Jason Polin RW R 25 2023 Holt, Michigan Avalanche
61 Canada Garrett Pyke D L 25 2024 Etobicoke, Ontario Eagles
43 Sweden Calle Rosen D L 30 2024 Växjö, Sweden Avalanche
15 United States Mark Senden C L 26 2024 Medina, Minnesota Eagles
65 United States Neil Shea F L 25 2024 Marshfield, Massachusetts Eagles
74 Canada Devante Stephens D L 27 2024 White Rock, British Columbia Eagles
36 Canada Matt Stienburg RW R 24 2023 Halifax, Nova Scotia Avalanche
14 United States Chris Wagner RW R 33 2024 Walpole, Massachusetts Avalanche
3 United States Jake Wise C L 24 2024 Naples, Florida Eagles

Team captains

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Retired numbers

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Colorado Eagles retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
12 Riley Nelson C 2003–2014 December 12, 2014[28]
17 Ryan Tobler LW 2003–2010 March 27, 2015[29]
23 Aaron Schneekloth D 2006–2013 March 22, 2019[30]
27 Brad Williamson D 2003–2008 March 22, 2019[30]
89 Greg Pankewicz RW 2003–2009 October 16, 2009[31]

Awards and honors

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Andrew Agozzino representing the Eagles at the 2019 AHL All-Star Classic.

Ray Miron President's Cup
CHL playoff champion

Kelly Cup
ECHL playoff champion

Bud Poile Governors' Cup
CHL regular season champion

Conference playoff championship

Division titles

References

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  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. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ Cohn, Justin A. (May 6, 2011). "Lots of excitement". The Journal Gazette. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  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. Archived from the original on June 2, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  6. ^ "Eagles schedule new conference for Tuesday". The Coloradoan. May 30, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011. [dead link‍]
  7. ^ "Annual ECHL Board of Governors meeting concludes". ECHL. August 1, 2011. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  8. ^ "Jets cut ties to ECHL club". Winnipeg Free Press. May 14, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  9. ^ Lytle, Kevin (July 6, 2016). "Chris Stewart retires as Colorado Eagles coach". Fort Collins Coloradoan. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  10. ^ Tiller, Cris (July 18, 2016). "Colorado Eagles name Aaron Schneekloth to replace Chris Stewart". Reporter-Herald. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
  11. ^ "Eagles Announce Affiliation with Colorado Avalanche". OurSports Central. July 20, 2016. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  12. ^ "GRIZZLIES BECOME ECHL AFFILIATE OF COLORADO AVALANCHE". ECHL. June 28, 2018. Archived from the original on June 28, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  13. ^ "The Kelly Cup was never returned so the ECHL created a replacement trophy". WTVG. May 31, 2019. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  14. ^ "STATEMENT FROM EAGLES OWNER MARTIN LIND REGARDING KELLY CUP". Colorado Eagles. May 31, 2019. Archived from the original on June 1, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  15. ^ "STATEMENT FROM THE ECHL REGARDING THE KELLY CUP". ECHL. June 1, 2019. Archived from the original on June 1, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  16. ^ "Growlers to Celebrate Opening Night with Two Kelly Cups". OurSports Central. October 10, 2019. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  17. ^ Alexander, Jim (February 12, 2017). "American Hockey League president talks scheduling, expansion, All-Stars, etc". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  18. ^ Chambers, Mike (June 14, 2017). "Colorado Eagles in discussions to become the Avalanche's AHL affiliate". The Denver Post. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  19. ^ Lytle, Kevin (October 10, 2017). "Colorado Eagles moving to AHL to become top Avalanche affiliate". Fort Collins Coloradoan. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  20. ^ "AHL Awards Expansion Membership to Colorado Eagles" (Press release). American Hockey League. October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  21. ^ "AVALANCHE NAME CRONIN COLORADO EAGLES HEAD COACH". Colorado Eagles. July 12, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-07-13. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  22. ^ "Avalanche names Kevin McDonald Assistant General Manager". Colorado Eagles. July 22, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  23. ^ Meghan Angley (October 27, 2022). ""Be the best player here, and your chance will come"; Meet Kevin McDonald, the new leader of the Colorado Eagles". thednvr.com. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  24. ^ "Aaron Schneekloth named Colorado Eagles head coach". Colorado Avalanche. July 7, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  25. ^ "News | Colorado Eagles". Archived from the original on 2004-10-25.
  26. ^ "Colorado Eagles season statistics and records". HockeyDB. Archived from the original on May 23, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  27. ^ "Colorado Eagles roster". Colorado Eagles. November 20, 2024. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  28. ^ Tiller, Cris (December 11, 2014). "Former Eagles captain Riley Nelson settling into life after hockey". Reporter-Herald. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  29. ^ Tiller, Cris (March 27, 2015). "Ryan Tobler honored to have Colorado Eagles retire his number". Reporter-Herald. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  30. ^ a b "Colorado Eagles to retire numbers of Schneekloth, Williamson". Colorado Eagles. February 5, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-02-07. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  31. ^ "Pankewicz retires becomes assistant coach". Colorado Eagles. August 10, 2009. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
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