By: Brendan Price

The Utah Outliers had ten shots in the opening five minutes and forced Eagles’ starting goaltender Ulrik Roussel to make a handful of spectacular saves all night. Despite Roussel’s best efforts, the Eagles fell 3-1 to Utah on Saturday night.

Rookie forward Emrik Froding got a breakaway from the blue line towards goal and poked the puck past Roussel to spot the Outliers (2-0-0) to a 1-0 lead with 16:48 to play in the first period. NoCo had a power play opportunity midway through the first period, but were turned aside by Outliers netminder Marco Felicetti, who ended the game with 25 saves on 26 shots. The 1-0 scoreline held into the first intermission.

In the opening three minutes of the second period, the Eagles turned to Ulrik Roussel to stop nine more shots and keep NoCo within one. With 13:53 left in the second period, the Eagles took advantage of a giveaway to tie the game 1-1. Eagle forward Nate Jaramillo beat Felicetti to the glove side with a wrist shot for his first goal as an Eagle. After a game misconduct to Diego Flota for running over Roussel in the defensive zone, NoCo had a major power play but were unable to convert and the two teams finished the second period still tied at 1-1.

Roussel finished with 26 saves on 29 shots, but couldn’t do anything about a two-on-one break that Leyton Pettypiece converted on the short side to give the Outliers a 2-1 lead with 16:49 left in the third period. Once again, the Eagles’ defense and goaltending gave them a chance to tie the game down the stretch. A successful penalty kill, one of five, set NoCo up for a goal scoring opportunity with an Eagle power play with 12:58 left in the period. Unable to convert, Utah turned the tables and scored an insurance goal just after getting back to full strength. Lucas Ouellete found space in the high slot and ripped a shot past Roussel to stretch the scoreline to 3-1 in favor of Utah. Northern Colorado had a late power play chance in the game’s final three minutes, but it was wiped out by a game misconduct to Eagle forward Javen Heidergott for charging and a cross-checking penalty to Vlad Suhhodolov in the final minute of the game.

The Eagles are back at the Greeley Ice Haus on Saturday, October 8th at 3:30 pm against their archrival, the Pueblo Bulls, for the first of a two-game series.