Hats Off To Sikura in Eagles Season Finale

LOVELAND, Colo. – On Saturday night, the Colorado Eagles became the second team in the AHL’s Pacific Division to finish its 68-game regular season (the San Jose Barracuda was the first, losing 5-2 to the Henderson Silver Knights earlier in the evening). While San Jose’s season came to a close outside of the playoff picture, the Eagles had an opportunity to finish the year with a win before heading into the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.

FIRST PERIOD

The Eagles wasted no time making an impact on the scoresheet. Pushing into Ontario’s zone, Colorado’s first-line forwards began their opening forecheck with fervor. Colorado left winger Mikhail Maltsev fired a shot on net, but had it kicked away by Ontario goaltender David Hrenak. The puck went straight back to Maltsev, who backhand slap-passed it to Dylan Sikura on the left-wing side. Sikura drove in and switched backhand to score, putting the Eagles on the board just 24 seconds into the game.

Ontario wasn’t fazed by the early goal against. The Reign registered four shots on net after the Sikura tally, keeping pace with the Eagles’ scoring chances as the period progressed. On the fifth Ontario shot on goal, Reign centerman Jaret Anderson-Dolan entered the Colorado zone along the right-wing side boards, wristing a shot on Eagles netminder Hunter Miska. The puck dribbled past Miska and in for a Reign goal at 7:44 of period one.

SECOND PERIOD

Colorado began the second period in the same way as the first – with a quick score in the first minute. After Eagles forward Ryan Wagner intercepted an Ontario pass, he looked up and saw captain Jayson Megna emerging from the penalty box. Wagner hit Megna with a saucer pass in stride to create an excellent breakaway opportunity. Megna charged ahead and wristed a shot past Hrenak blocker-side to put Colorado back up, 2-1, at 0:17 into the second segment of play.

Sikura added another tally towards the middle of the second. Eagles defenseman Andreas Englund made a breakout pass to forward Kiefer Sherwood up center ice. Sherwood edged back around behind the goal line, backhanding the puck to Sikura. Sikura then cut to the slot before netting a wrist shot for his second goal of the evening at 8:44 of period two. Colorado carried the 3-1 lead into the third and final period of play.

THIRD PERIOD

Unlike the previous two periods, there was no Colorado goal within the first minute of play in the third period…or the first fifteen minutes of gameplay, for that matter. The Eagles and Reign were both held scoreless for the majority of the final regulation frame after outstanding efforts by both Miska and Hrenak in their respective nets.

Colorado, however, was not finished. Eagles forward Jean-Luc Foudy began possession in Colorado territory, then proceeded to take the puck coast-to-coast into Ontario’s zone. Cutting across the crease, Foudy tucked the puck five-hole as Hrenak went for a poke check. Foudy’s goal gave the Eagles a much more comfortable 4-1 lead at 16:18 of period number three.

After Hrebak was pulled for an extra Ontario attacker, the stage was set for a Dylan Sikura hat trick. During the resulting 6-on-5, Miska made a saving sequence as the puck deflected off of defender Roland McKeown to Sikura on the left wing. Launching a shot from the faceoff circle, the puck hit the back of the empty net dead center to bring Sikura to three goals on the night & send the hats flying at the Budweiser Events Center.

The Eagles close out the 2021-22 regular season with a 5-1 victory over the Reign. Colorado sits fourth place in the Pacific Division, currently good enough for home-ice advantage in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Eagles will hang onto that home-ice advantage if:

• The Bakersfield Condors lose at least one of its last two games, or…
• The Abbotsford Canucks lose at least two of its last three games

COACH CRONIN’S CORNER

On some overall positives from the game:

“I thought we were determined to play a good, solid 60 minutes. And we play well – we get pucks deep and we get pucks back on the forechecking. We just had incredible scoring chances; I thought their goalie played really well. It’s high altitude; we have to play that game where we’re attacking and driving the puck in the play, so it will happen with everybody.”

Regarding home-ice advantage in the postseason:

“It’s huge. I mean, you go to the game here, there’s not too many arenas like this in the AHL – where the crowd’s so invested and they’re loud and they’re educated. For me – we kept telling the team – this is a snapshot of what will happen if we can get that home-ice berth.

On Colorado’s penalty kill holding Ontario’s top-ranked power play scoreless on the night:

“We finally figured it out after five, six friggin’ power play goals against. But we executed tonight, which was the big thing. We didn’t execute the last two games, but they did a good job tonight. The 4-on-3 kill in the third period was huge.”

Regarding areas to work on heading into the postseason:

“We just have to reinforce what we do. We’re a physical, heavy team. We get pucks deep, we keep it simple. We can wear on teams when we do that.”