![]() ![]() Mann said the upgrade of the sound system and lighting project both went well, and the renovations of the concessions and lobby areas will enhance the arena experience. UNC gave us their schedule, we scheduled them in, then the Eagles worked around that.” They’re basically taking weekends that UNC (club team) did not take. “The Eagles are using time that our other user groups aren’t using. “Our ice schedule is so busy this year,” Mann said. The Eagles’ home games are all on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and practices will be during the mornings during the week. Fans will love him.”Īs the reopening of the Ice Haus approached, Mark Mann, the facility’s recreation supervisor, said the addition of the Eagles as tenants would be a boost for the city-owned arena. “Sean’s the nicest, quietest kid you’ll ever meet, but it’s like he’s a different guy when he gets on the ice. “He led our team in points and fights,” Haddon said. The team’s leading scorer was 6-foot, 175-pound forward Sean McMahon, from Cumming, Ga., who had 18 goals and 116 penalty minutes in 50 games. He joined the Colorado Junior Eagles – now the Northern Colorado Eagles – as coach and GM immediately after retiring as a player.īased in Windsor last season, the Junior Eagles were 32-17-7 and beat Cheyenne in the playoffs before falling to Ogden in the second round. We look at it as a two-way street, and as a player, you’re an extension of the family.”įor inquiries about serving as billets for the Eagles, email is from Sarnia, Ontario, and played his junior hockey there before one season at the University of Manitoba and seven professionally with the Loveland-based Colorado Eagles in the Central Hockey League and ECHL. If it’s not a good fit, we’d never make them stuck in a long-term deal. We want our billets to be just as happy as our players. “It doesn’t work for everyone, but what we try to do is tell people to try it, if they’re curious and want to. We’ve had a lot of our billets the last five years follow their players to college to watch them. If there are siblings in the house, there are lifelong friendships to be made there, too. They’re young men, in most cases under 20. “The difference is we’re on the road a lot and there’s a Christmas break. “It’s like getting a foreign-exchange student pretty much for eight months,” said Haddon. The Eagles’ hosts receive a modest stipend for expenses – “These kids eat like horses,” Haddon conceded with a laugh - and two season tickets, but the system isn’t designed for anyone to make money off the deal. At the highest levels, NHL players are known to stay in touch with their junior hockey billets throughout their careers and beyond. It’s one of the traditions of the junior game. Haddon said the team has some billet homes signed up, including some holdovers, but is looking for more. Last season’s roster had players from 12 states and three Canadian provinces. The city will allow the Eagles to bring in outside beer and food vendors for home games.Īs the Eagles’ season approaches, one of the key steps in the franchise’s move to Greeley to line up temporary “billet” homes in the area for the players, who range from 16 to 21 and come from across the United States and Canada, plus Switzerland and Sweden. The league plays under NHL rules, with players wearing half-shields rather than cages, and with fighting allowed. Since 2011, the WSHL hasn’t been connected to USA Hockey, the national governing body, and instead is sanctioned by the Amateur Athletic Association. The North American Hockey League is the elite Tier II league. Tier II Junior A is a secondary feeder to NCAA hockey, and in most cases, the players’ goals are to sharpen their games and draw a college scholarship offer. There’s a lot of excitement and in the next 30 days, we’ll need to make sure we’re ready to go.” “For us, just to move into the locker room and all that is great. “We’re ready for the move in when we get the green light,” Steve Haddon, the Eagles’ general manager and coach, said this week. ![]() 14-15 and one against the Casper Bobcats on Sept. ![]() The Eagles will have three home exhibitions, two against the University of Northern Colorado Bears club team on Sept. ![]()
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