By: Brendan Price

In 2021-22, this rivalry was all NoCo, all the time. The Eagles went 9-2-1 against Pueblo last year and the Bulls were determined not to repeat the trend in 2022-23.

Behind a three-goal first period, two goals from Ian Williams, and timely insurance in the third, the Pueblo Bulls (4-0-0) outlasted Northern Colorado (4-3-0) for a 6-4 victory on Saturday afternoon and moved into a three-way tie for first place with the Eagles and Ogden Mustangs.

Bulls rookies Albin Augustsson and Elhan Egdahmi got the scoring started for Pueblo. Augustsson poked a rebound past Eagles goaltender Charles-Anthony Barbeau just 2:42 into the contest and spotted the visitors to a 1-0 lead. Similarly, Eghdami took advantage of a rebound in the Eagles' crease and punched it home to double the Pueblo advantage 2-0 with 13:10 left in the 1st period. Williams scored the first of his two goals, squeaking a redirected wrist shot through the five-hole with 5:31 to play in the first period. Pueblo retained their commanding 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

Goals came in rapid succession at the beginning of the second period. Eagle defenseman Xavier Fortin powered a wrist shot that beat Bulls goalie Lucas Bjork to the glove side and got NoCo on the board, 3-1, just 2:13 into the period. Just nine seconds after Ian Williams made it 4-1 Pueblo, Eagles rookie Alexis Lalonde slid the puck past Bjork for his first career goal to cut the deficit to 4-2. The teams had to wait another fifteen minutes for a goal when Eric Horein pocketed a rebound past Bjork with 1:28 to play in the second period to make it 4-3 after two periods.

Bull center Scott Bugarin provided much-needed insurance early in the third period; his snap shot found the back of the net to give the Bulls a 5-3 lead just 2:25 into the third period. NoCo controlled much of the offensive tempo in the period until Isaac Hood buried a backhander behind Barbeau after racing down the near wing to open up a 6-3 lead for Pueblo with 6:34 left to play. NoCo got a lifeline with a redirection goal off the stick of Erik Brink with 1:30 left in the third period to make it 6-4, but the Bulls were able to stymie the NoCo offense the rest of the way.