Gotta love the minors

I wrote this article for the Coloradoan.

LOVELAND- There wasn't a playoff hockey game being played at the Budweiser Event Center Saturday night, but there might as well have been. What was supposed to be a regular-season divisional matchup brought all the emotion, intensity, and bad blood that accompanies playoff hockey.

The Colorado Eagles (31-14-5, 67 points) and the Rocky Mountain Rage (31-14-5, 67 points) kicked off the first of back-to-back games that will determine which team will take sole possession of the Northwest Division lead.

Headed into Saturday's matchup, the Eagles trailed the Rage by two points in the standings. When it was all said and done, the Eagles were tied with the Rage atop the standings after a 4-1 victory at the Budweiser Events Center.

The Eagles wasted no time in jumping on top of their rivals to the south. Just four minutes into the first frame, Riley Nelson beat Rage goaltender Scott Reid's glove hand to put the Eagles on top.

Not four minutes later, Ryan Tobler added a goal of his own. To cap off the first period, center Ed McGrane notched a goal with less than two minutes left in the first period. Colorado went into the first intermission up 3-0 and the never looked back.

"If we hadn't played the way we did in the first period, this game might have been a lot different," coach Chris Stewart said. "We really coasted through the second and third period, we could have played a lot better hockey."

True to the rivalry and not willing to share the throne at the top of the division, the Rage were finally able to solve Eagles goaltender Sebastien Laplante as Rage defenseman Clay Plume was able to punch in a rebound halfway through an otherwise quiet second period. That was the only goal Laplante relinquished.

It proved to be a tough night for Rage goaltender Scott Reid, as the 6-foot-3, 205 pounder couldn't find a way to look big enough to stop the Eagles' first-period offensive barrage. Reid gave up three goals on the first 16 shots he saw.

Reid would keep the Eagles off the scoreboard through the second and through most of the third, until he was pulled for the extra skater. Fraiser Flipic was able to put in the empty netter for the fourth and final Colorado goal.

On the other end, Laplante was brilliant, stopping 30 of 31 shots.

"You don't make a big deal out of it; my job doesn't change because it's a big game." Laplante said. "I come into every game expecting to stop every shot."