Eagles 4, Scorpions 3

The only thing Randy Murphy could've asked for out of this game was three more minutes of quality hockey. For the second time this season, the Scorpions went toe-to-toe with the league's best team, and for the second time this season, they came out on the short end. All in all, a solid effort that shouldn't leave Murph with too much to build on for tomorrow.

Observations:

• The lead, albeit short-lived, was a first for the Scorpions this season against the Eagles -- it's definitely a building block though. You knew a one-goal lead wasn't going to do the trick, and credit Morgan Cey with only allowing Stephens' goal in what I thought was a very strong start to the second period for the Scorpions
• A couple of observations about Greg Pankewicz -- first off, his goal to open the contest was unbelieveable. We've known for a while that he has one of the hardest slappers in the league, but he beat Andrew Martin clean on a simple snapshot from the top of the circles -- that thing was moving! On the other hand, and this is far less complementary, of course, but you have to ask yourself how deserving a guy is of the captain's C when clearly cannot control himself. After the Scorpions went up 2-1, Pankewicz was flying around with wreckless abandon, more like he was trying to hospitalize someone than give his team a spark. In my opinion, he was lucky to only come away with 2 PIM in the opening half of the second period, as he took runs at just about everybody and had three hits from behind in the course of one shift. The guy's lucky his team has a stellar PK, and he's lucky that he hasn't seriously injured someone (yet) in one of his fits -- and that's just his behavior on the ice. This basically personifies conduct unbecoming of a captain/role model. Funny how an organization like Colorado can keep the DUI arrest of a former playoff MVP under the radar, but the Scorpions get raked over the coals for a bar fight during rookie hazing. Is it just me, or should the league have a zero-tolerance policy for behavior like this? I don't care if it's a known face in this league and I don't care if it's a misdemeanor DUI charge -- that's unacceptable
• Absolutely gorgeous powerplay goal from Seth Leonard, Jamie Herrington and Craig Macdonald. That was a textbook example of opening up the ice on the powerplay. Any team at any level would be happy with puck movement like that
• Congrats to Andrew Smale on his first goal of the year, and what a blast it was. Getting goals from guys like Smale can really lift a team, and it certainly gave the Scorps the momentum, as they responded immediately and almost tied the game on the next shift
• Andrew Martin had his second straight strong outting, despite giving up four goals. It's hard to fault him on any of them, and although McGrane's goal seemed to be moving in slow motion, that was a deflection that no goalie could stop. Unbelievable hands by the CHL's best skullet
• I usually don't like to point to officiating as a turning point, but there is no avoiding it tonight. The Scorpions had all the momentum after Smale's goal, only to have it killed just over a minute later on VERY soft offensive zone penalty to Craig Macdonald. On the ensuing penalty kill, Seth Leonard was off to the races after blocking a shot at the point, only to have Kevin Ulanski essentially bear-hug him from behind on the breakaway. Leonard did bobble the puck, which gave Ulanski a chance to catch up, but Ulanski was never between Leonard and the goal and it's pretty hard to play the puck cleanly from that position
• Also, in case you missed the pregame show, Tyler Fuller broke his thumb on Grant Goeckner-Zoeller's face last Saturday and is out for 4-6 weeks. The Scorpions were even thinner on the back end with Lyon Messier absent due to a death in the family. At least for the short-term, Randy Murphy signed Swedish defenseman Henrik Ivarsson, who was waived by Arizona to make room for Derek Legault. Ivarsson, who carried an even rating through 10 games with the CHL's lowest-ranked defense core, is expected to be in the lineup Saturday
  

Elsewhere:

• Karl Sellan completes the patented "Karl Sellan Hat Trick" with a goal, a fight and a diving penalty
• Corpus halts Odessa's winning streak at 11. As Rajan noted, the Jacks broke out the champagne a tad bit early
• Shreveport gives up three goals in three minutes to Tulsa, then hangs on to take the two points. That's not very Mudbug-like