LOVELAND, Colo. — The Colorado Eagles met the Tucson Roadrunners in Loveland over the weekend, playing some of their best hockey. Colorado entered the series atop the Western Conference, having only fallen twice in regulation this season. Tucson was playing .500 hockey. So it was a matter of who wanted to be the best bird in the Pacific Division, and the Roadrunners wanted to give the Eagles a run for their money, despite injuries and illness on the Colorado bench.

Friday Night: 6–2 victory 

Tucson’s pressure in the first period of the game threw everything out of control for the Eagles. The Roadrunners were constant on their forecheck and were shutting down the neutral zone. This made it so the Eagles had a lot of difficulty exiting their own zone. I believe it was the first time all season that the Eagles have been outshot in the first period as Tucson had 17 shots to the Eagles’ 12. Colorado exited the period with a tie game as Alex Barre-Boulet would not give up on a rebound after rebound to slip it past Matt Villalta.

Tye Felhaber has been on a bit of a goal drought. He has scored only two goals in the first 14 games of the season. Felhaber has been doing a lot of the right things, but there has been a lack of finish. Last season, Felhaber found himself in front of the net to finish plays. This season, we have seen very little of that play from Felhaber. Friday night saw Felhaber driving the net and playing with a renewed intensity, much like the previous season. And it worked. Felhaber doubled his goal total for the season and added an assist. One goal came via a power play, an aspect of the game that improved for the Eagles.

“Honestly, he just had chances that he finished off tonight,” said head coach Mark Letestu. “Tye does a lot more than just score. He’s one of the main guys on one of the top penalty killing units in the league. He has a personality that drags people into the fight. So even when he’s not scoring, he is contributing in other ways. It’s just nice to have him get rewarded tonight. The guys love him, even him coming in afterwards. He just has an energy about him, and I think if anybody’s talked and spent a couple of minutes with him, you know exactly what I’m talking about. So nobody’s happier for him than the guys in the room.”

Tristen Nielsen had another two points on Friday night with a goal and an assist. With 14 points in 15 games, Nielsen remains one of the most consistent players on the Eagles’ roster. He signed a new two-way contract on October 27. He has been playing a gritty and fast game, earning his NHL debut a week after the new contract. Nielsen has four goals in the last three games.

Mark Letestu interview November 14, 2025

Jack Ahcan interview November 14, 2025

Saturday Night: 3–0 loss

Danil Gushchin sustained a lower-body injury during Friday night’s game. Gushchin is fourth on the Eagles with 11 points in 12 games. Losing the Russian for any amount of time will hurt the Eagles. He is a threat to score from anywhere on the ice. Gushchin has a wrist shot that can be very deceptive and throw goalies off of their game for the rest of the contest. Fans can expect some line shuffling to happen from the coaches to see what fits now. Colorado also has several players that were playing that were under the weather. So this not help their game very much.

Colorado was finishing a lot of their chances on Friday, which led to the victory. Regrettably, Saturday showed otherwise. The Eagles failed to finish many of their offensive plays. This gave Tucson the win. The Eagles advanced down the wings, yet moved the puck elsewhere, hoping that the center presented a better option. This usually led to the offensive rush getting broken up and turned away easily by the Roadrunner defense.

 “No, we didn’t finish off,” said coach Letestu. ” We had a lot of chances and outshot them. Just about every period. We only give up 20 shots tonight. We defended really well.”

A sloppy play by Sean Behrens is what broke the game open. Normally, he is a great stickhandler on the blue line. The puck slipped off the blade of his stick, and Owen Allard (son of former Avs’ skills coach Shawn Allard) took advantage. It was all the Roadrunners needed to break the game open on their side of things. They would add an insurance goal just two minutes later.

Mark Letestu interview November 15, 2025

Keaton Middleton interview November 15, 2025

Up next

The Eagles will head to Tucson to finish the home at home series starting on Friday, November 22nd, at 7 p.m. MT. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.