Rage Attendance: Not Bad

Minor league hockey is more popular than minor league basketball. That may not come as any surprise to hockey fans, but at least it's confirmed. The Rocky Mountain Rage had more butts in seats (or at least, less empty ones, according to the Daily Camera) than the Colorado 14ers.

Out of the 6,000 seats at the arena, about 2,000 were empty for each of last season's Rocky Mountain Rage hockey games. More than half the seats — about 3,500 — were empty during Colorado 14ers basketball games.

So, if we do some math, we get that the Rage were selling an average of around 4000 seats per game. In fact, according to Pointstreak, the Rage sold an average of 4,027 tickets per game. While that may be half of what the Oklahoma City Blazers sold last year (who play in a full sized arena in a busy downtown area), that's pretty good. In fact, that's a lot better than the Austin Ice Bats (1,900) or the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL (1,844 in the 17,000 seat US Bank Arena). 4,000 a game is enough to live on.

Games against the Colorado Eagles averaged higher than the season average, but not by much.

So, really, those who questioned placing "another" hockey team in Colorado, so close to the Avalanche and the Eagles, in the short term at least, they have been proven wrong.

Technorati Tags: CHL, Hockey, Minors, Rage

Eagles to give Acting a Shot

The Colorado Eagles are going to have more airtime soon. Altitude is giving the Eagles a half hour show to bring Northern Colorado hockey to the people. From the Coloradoan:

The Colorado Eagles aim to give fans more entertainment than just what they’ll see on the Budweiser Events Center rink this season.

The organization debuts the Colorado Eagles NoCo Hockey Show this year.

Nice. Here comes the scary part:

The show, a mix of sports talk, hockey 101 and comedy skits, airs the first of its monthly scheduled episodes at 5 p.m. Oct. 7 on Altitude before coverage of a Colorado Avalanche game.

Comedy skits? Seriously? So, the Eagles are aiming to become the SNL of the CHL?

Local sports TV at it's best.

Technorati Tags: CHL, Eagles, Hockey, Minors

First Battle of the Season in Pre-Season

The first Battle of Colorado is going to take place in the preseason, with a home and home series. The first will be in Broomfield on October 13th, with the second being at the Bud the 14th. It's the preseason, so expectations may be low, but I suspect the bad blood between the teams will start here. Get in early, and see how your team shapes up.

Technorati Tags: CHL, Eagles, Hockey, Minors, Rage

Rosters Taking Shape

This is the listing for both teams from the current signing pages on the CHL site:


Colorado Eagles
Dave Iannazzo, F
Jay Birnie, D
Erik Adams, D
Ed McGrane, F
Aaron Schneekloth, D
Greg Pankewicz, F
Ryan Tobler, F
Brad Williamson, D
Riley Nelson, F
Jason Beatty, D
Marco Emond, G
Brett Thurston, D
Scott Polaski, F
Fraser Filipic, F
Steve Haddon, F
Chris Hartsburg, F
Paulo Colaiacovo, G
Jonathan Lounsbury, D
Tyson Terry, F
Les Borsheim, F/D
Clayton Pool, G
Seth Leonard, F
Mike Lukajic, F
Ian Keserich, G
Rocky Mountain Rage
Chip Dunleavy, F
Brent Cullaton, RW
Scott Wray, LW
Tyler Butler, D
Clay Plume, D
Scott Reid, G
David Morelli, C
Nathan Rosychuk, F
Trevor Weisgerber, F
Rob Chappell, D
Nick Harloff, D
Colt King, F
Daymen Rycroft, F
Simon Watson, F
Jami Yoder, D
Pat Sutton, D
Terry Dunbar, G

Thats 24 players for the Eagles, four of which are goaltenders.

You can keep up with all the current signing around the league here.

Technorati Tags: CHL, Eagles, Hockey, Rage

Plume of Rage Trying Out in the AHL

Clay Plume is getting a shot to make it to the AHL. From the Central Hockey League:

Rocky Mountain Rage defenseman Clay Plume has earned a try out with the American Hockey League’s Quad City Flames, the top player development affiliate of the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Plume, who garnered the Rage’s inaugural Defenseman of the Year award, set career highs across the board last season for goals (8), assists (18), points (26), and penalty minutes (75).

While that may not seem like impressive numbers, he did play all 64 games last season, and was part of a Rage team that was less than impressive (17 wins -40 losses - 7 OT loses last season for last place in the league). To be a standout in that sort of situation is impressive.

The current roster listing on the QC Mallards Flames website shows eleven total defensemen, making for some stiff competition, especially since Flames prospects get the upper hand, and Plume is undrafted. We'll see how this plays out.

Technorati Tags: CHL, Hockey, Minors, Rage

Hockey Coach Stops Horse in a Unique Way

This is ridiculous, but the AP says it's true:

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The coach of Oklahoma City's minor-league hockey team helped prevent a possible stampede of Belgian horses at the Oklahoma State Fair by biting one of the animals on its ear.

Do what now?

Doug Sauter, who coaches the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central Hockey League, was at the fair Saturday attending the Centennial Expo's Draft Horse Show when he saw a Belgian horse break free from its reins. That caused a chain reaction that spooked other horses, he said Monday.

He bit the ear of one of the spooked horses to stop it from stampeding.

"That's how you stymie a horse," he said.

"You bite as hard as you can, and it won't move."

In a related, completely fabricated story, two-thirds of the Oklahoma City Blazers have suddenly quit the team.

Do you think he had a tough time getting to the horse's ear through his mustache?


(photo from the Central Hockey League website)

That's small for his mustache. You should see (I kid you not) his bobble-head, on sale at the Blazers arena.

Technorati Tags: CHL, Hockey, Minors, Weird

The Boys are Back

In the never-ending struggle of icing a solid team, the Colorado Eagles seem the most successful of non-affiliated minor league teams to bring back the same players year after year. This season, the main core is back along with the goaltender of last season, begging the question, do the Eagles know something the rest of the league doesn't?

Of course, having a rabid fan base at this level helps, but I will say this. Living in Colorado, you can understand why moving back to the Ft. Collins area would be appealing.