LOVELAND, Colo. — The Colorado Eagles started their last home stand with a few additions to the roster. Hank Kempf, Taylor Makar, Cooper Gay, and Isak Posch all joined the roster after wrapping up their college careers. The San Jose Barracuda (SJS) head into town for the last time in the regular season as the Eagles push for their first Pacific Division title. It turned into one of the most physical games that the Eagles would play all season and they would pay for it. A hit knocked Jacob MacDonald out of the game in the first and he did not return to the game after. Colorado would drop the game 6–3, but will have a chance for redemption on Saturday night.

Takeaways

Cooper Gay made his pro debut on Friday night and looked great. At six-foot-four, the left winger brings size to the lineup, but weighs only 215 pounds. He pushed the play in the offensive zone to force a few turnovers early in the game for the Eagles. He showed some speed and willingness to go into the corner and dig in deep. The most impressive thing was that he did not give up on the play easily, which led to an excellent scoring opportunity from behind the net. Gay netted his first goal with a fantastic shot in the second period to for his first professional goal.

“I owe a lot to my family,” Gay said. “They’ve just been supporting me through everything, paying for stuff like training and I think just coming to the rink every day trying to get 1% better. I’ve been living that motto since my second year juniors, just trying to crack lineups, juniors was a little bumpy, and then just keep getting better, keep developing as a player, I think, and I’m not satisfied with anything. So just keep working basically.”

Late in the first period, Lucas Vanroboys and Scott Sabourin came from two different directions to hit MacDonald behind the net. The Eagles’ defenseman went down in a tumble right away, holding his head. The trainer was called out to ice and looked over at MacDonald, and then he exited under his own power. Unfortunately, his failure to return suggests the worst.

“Well, I haven’t got a report back yet,” head coach Aaron Schneekloth said. “Obviously he didn’t return, so I’ll wait to get a report and see where we’re at.”

Colorado needed to get more physical on both sides of the puck during the game. San Jose just ran over the Eagles every chance they had. The Eagles could get nowhere near the boards without feeling the impact of a Barracuda on them. If the Eagles can adjust their lineup on Saturday to add more grit, like Matt Stienburg, Chad Hillebrand or Taylor Makar, they may stand a chance of fighting back.

“We come off a long road trip,” Schneekloth said. “You don’t want to make any excuses. Well, it just looked like we were a step behind tonight, and not only our skating, but our decision making, and San Jose played a heavy, physical game. Ultimately, it led to some more puck battle wins for them and opened up some opportunities.”

Upcoming

The Eagles will be right back at it on Saturday night to face the San Jose Barracuda at Blue Arena in Loveland at 7 p.m. MT. The game will be available to stream on AHLTV on FloHockey.com.

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