Snipers Lose 3 in a row to Eagles

The Northern Colorado Eagles visited their new division rivals in Dallas and managed to come back with all nine points from a three-game series, but the Snipers continue to play well, and almost came up with a win – or at least a point – in a wildly entertaining game on Saturday.

Northern Colorado 7, Dallas 1 – A five goal outburst in the second period propelled the Northern Colorado Eagles to a 7-1 win over the Dallas Snipers at Dr. Pepper Star Center on Friday.

The Eagles struck five times in a span of 7:45 to blow open what had been a pretty equally-played game up to that point.  Nikita Sheberov scored twice in the spree and finished the game with four points (2-2-4).  Eric Hildebrand also scored twice for the Eagles and picked up three assists to boot.

Marshall Murphy (20 saves) stopped all 17 Dallas shots through the first two periods, losing his shutout with just 3:24 left on a Gasper Konc goal – the only scoring in the third period.

Alexander Aleshkin entered the Dallas crease late in the second period and stopped all seven Eagles shots in the third period to stop the bleeding, but the game was out of hand at that point.

Northern Colorado 3, Dallas 2 – Jakob Elik scored for the Eagles with 0.8 seconds showing on the clock to win Saturday’s thriller.

There was a faceoff in the Dallas end with :13 left in the third period.  The Eagles managed a quick shot off the draw but the puck went wide and into the corner.  Michael Petrotto was first on it and, instead of wildly throwing it on the net, showed some poise under pressure and bumped it into the corner to Sean McMahon who had some space.  McMahon slid the puck to the front of the net where Elik got a stick on it and re-directed it past Dallas goalie Alexander Aleshkin for the game-winner.

The Eagles scored first, 7:14 into the first period.  Cameron Braun’s shot was stopped, but Mark Revniaga swatted the rebound past Aleshkin.

Later in the period, the Eagles won a neutral zone faceoff, but the puck was knocked off the defenseman’s stick it popped into the middle of the ice where Hunter Best picked it up, skated in on Eagles goalie Marshall Murphy and converted the breakaway to tie the game.

Dallas took a 2-1 lead into the third period thanks to Karolis Krasilnikovas scoring the only goal of the middle frame on a spectacular individual effort.  He accepted a pass at the Dallas blue line, wheeled through the neutral zone and into the Northern Colorado end down the right wing.  He took the puck from his forehand, pulled it between his skates from back to front and picked it back up on his backhand, taking two more strides before backhanding the puck on net.

Northern Colorado’s Zach Vanderwal tied the game up 2-2, appearing to set up overtime, until Elik’s last-second heroics.  Trent Hines blasted a shot from the point.  Aleshkin made a great toe save, but Vanderwal was there to bang home the rebound.

Northern Colorado 8, Dallas 5 – The Eagles scored six unanswered goals to take a five-goal lead in the second period of Sunday’s series finale, but Dallas kept coming at them.  The Snipers scored twice late in the second period, and two more in the third, but came up short by a score of 8-5.

Sheberov (2-1-3) scored twice for the Eagles and Elik had a goal and three assists.

Jasa Jenko scored two of the Dallas goals and assisted on a third.

The Snipers out-shot the Eagles, 14-10, in the third period.