| Colorado Eagles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Loveland, Colorado |
| League | American Hockey League |
| Conference | Western |
| Division | Pacific |
| Founded | 2003 (CHL) |
| Home arena | Blue Arena |
| Colors | |
| Owner(s) | Colorado Eagles Professional Hockey LLC |
| General manager | Kevin McDonald |
| Head coach | Mark Letestu |
| Captain | Jayson Megna |
| Media |
|
| Affiliates | Colorado Avalanche (NHL) Utah Grizzlies (ECHL) |
| Franchise history | |
| 2003–present | Colorado Eagles |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles | 3 (2005,2006,2009) |
| Division titles | 9 (2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2016,2018,2025) |
| Conference titles | 7 (2005,2007,2008,2009,2011,2017,2018) |
| Ray Miron President's Cup | 2 (2005,2007) |
| Kelly Cups | 2 (2017,2018) |
 Current season | |
TheColorado Eagles are a professionalice hockey team based inLoveland, Colorado. The Eagles play in the Pacific Division of theAmerican Hockey League.
The Eagles were founded as an expansion franchise in 2003 in theCentral Hockey League and remained in the league until June 2011, when they joined theECHL. During their time in the CHL, the Eagles won twoRay Miron President's Cups, three regular season titles, five conference titles and six division titles in eight seasons. The team was granted a membership as an expansion team in theAmerican Hockey League beginning with the 2018–19 season as the affiliate of theColorado Avalanche of theNational Hockey League.
The Eagles play at theBlue Arena in Loveland and serve the Fort Collins – Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The franchise was founded in 2003 by formerMontreal Canadiens playerRalph Backstrom.[1] The Eagles advanced to the playoffs in their first season and won the CHL championship in their second season, 2004–05. They won their division in 2005–06, but lost in the second round of the playoffs to theBossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, after having defeated theOklahoma City Blazers in the first round. They would again win the CHL Championship in 2006–07, defeating theLaredo Bucks four games to two in the Cup Finals.
After the 2007–08 season, coachChris Stewart retired, andKevin McClelland was named as his replacement. Following the 2009–10 season, McClelland was not retained and Stewart, who had been working as team president and general manager since leaving the bench, resumed head coaching duties.
During the 2008–09 season, the Eagles hosted the 2009 CHL All-Star Game and took on a group of CHL All-Stars from various teams. The exhibition took place on January 14, 2009, at the Budweiser Events Center, with the Eagles defeating the CHL All-Stars, 8–4.
During the2011 Ray Miron President's Cup playoffs, the Eagles had been rumored to be transferring to the ECHL following the completion of the playoffs.[2][3] FormerInternational Hockey League commissioner Dennis Hextall has stated that he had heard that the Colorado Eagles may already be included in the ECHL's tentative schedule for the2011–12 season.[4]
On May 29, 2011,KEVN-TV inRapid City, South Dakota reported that Colorado was to move to the ECHL in time for the 2011–12 season.[5] The following day, the team announced that they would have a press conference on May 31 at the Budweiser Events Center and that local media were urged to attend and fans urged to listen to the press conference online or on a local radio station.[6] At the press conference, Head Coach, General Manager and President Chris Stewart announced that the team had been accepted as an expansion franchise in the ECHL for the 2011–12 season.
In August 2011, the Eagles were assigned to the Western Conference's Mountain Division as part of the league realignment for the2011–12 ECHL season.[7]
They served as the second-tier affiliate of theNational Hockey League'sWinnipeg Jets and theAmerican Hockey League'sSt. John's IceCaps until the end of the 2012–13 hockey season[8] and then as theCalgary Flames andAdirondack Flames affiliate during the2014–15 season.
In July 2016, head coachChris Stewart retired as coach for the second time but remained with the organization as general manager.[9] He was replaced by assistant coach and longtime Eagles player,Aaron Schneekloth.[10] On July 20, the Eagles announced a four-year affiliation with the NHL'sColorado Avalanche and the AHL'sSan Antonio Rampage after one season of playing independent of affiliations.[11][12] In their first season with the Avalanche affiliation, the Eagles would go on to finish second in the Mountain Division of the ECHL and then win theKelly Cup as the2017 playoffs champions. In their last season in the ECHL in 2017–18, the Eagles finished with back-to-back Kelly Cups with the2018 playoff championship. Traditionally, the Kelly Cup is held by the winning team during the following season and returned before the playoffs, but the Eagles did not return the trophy to the league after leaving for the AHL and it had to be replaced.[13][14][15] They eventually sent it to the 2019 ECHL championNewfoundland Growlers before opening night of the2019–20 ECHL season.[16]
For the 2017–18 season, theNational Hockey League added theVegas Golden Knights as a 31st team. The approval of a new NHL team also led to discussions of adding a 31st team in theAmerican Hockey League.[17] With the Golden Knights choosing to affiliate with theChicago Wolves instead of adding their own AHL expansion team, talks with other organizations were opened. The owners and managers of the Eagles began discussions with the Avalanche with interests into becoming an AHL expansion for the2018–19 season.[18] On October 10, 2017, the Avalanche and the Eagles officially announced that the club would be promoted to the AHL in 2018.[19][20]
The Avalanche hiredGreg Cronin as the Eagles' first AHL head coach and retained former head coachAaron Schneekloth as an assistant.[21] Cronin remained in the role for the Eagles first five seasons, qualifying for the playoff in each year. Prior to the2022–23 season, the Avalanche announced a restructure of their executive committee with Kevin McDonald hired and introduced as the incoming Eagles General Manager, with Craig Billington re-assigned to other duties within the organization.[22][23]
With the departure of Cronin, following his unveiling as the head coach of theAnaheim Ducks of the NHL, Schneekloth was re-instated as the Colorado Eagles head coach on July 7, 2023.[24]
Although the Eagles have been a relatively small team to the media, they have been featured many times. In 2004, the Eagles signed a contract withAltitude Sports and Entertainment to broadcast up to 10 games plus postseason games each year.[25] The first TV broadcast for the Eagles was on November 5, 2004, against theNew Mexico Scorpions that was broadcast on Altitude. Altitude and the Eagles parted ways in 2015 as the last broadcast was in the 2015 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Notable games that Altitude broadcast include the 2005 Ray Miron President's Cup Game 5 where the Eagles won their first Presidents Cup. As well as the 2007 Ray Miron President's Cup Game 6 where the Eagles won their second Presidents Cup. More Broadcasts include the 2009 CHL All-Star Game and the 2013 ECHL All-Star Game, both hosted atBlue Arena (formerly Budweiser Events Center).
Altitude also hosted the NoCo Hockey Show in the late 2000s which was a monthlyTV Show that featured Eagles highlights and Community events.
The EaglesPlay-by-Play Commentators varied from 2004-06 betweenMike Haynes and Doug McLeod withPeter McNab as theColor commentator. From 2006 to 2009, Tori Holt, who was the commentator for the Eagles on the radio from 2003 to 06, was the Commentator with Kevin McGlue as the Color Commentator. McGlue now does the Radio Commentary for the Eagles.
The Eagles are now broadcast on AHL.TV and on the radio onKKPL 99.9 The Point. The Eagles were formerly onKPAW 107.9 The Bear.
The Eagles have also been recognized nationally by 2Sportscenter appearances. One appearance was in 2007 whenGreg Pankewicz scored an incredible goal in Game 7 of the second round of the 2007 President's Cup Playoffs against theOklahoma City Blazers where he lifted the puck over the defender's stick, knocked it around the defender with his stick, and made a diving finish to put the puck in the net.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL=shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Records as of end of the2023–24 AHL season.[26]
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Year | Prelims | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Finals | |||
| Central Hockey League | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–04 | 64 | 43 | 16 | 0 | 5 | 91 | 232 | 156 | 1453 | 1st, Northwest | 2004 | — | — | L, 1–3,WIC | — | — | |||
| 2004–05 | 60 | 43 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 93 | 221 | 123 | 1345 | 1st, Northwest | 2005 | — | — | W, 4–1,TUL | W, 4–2,WIC | W, 4–1,LAR | |||
| 2005–06 | 64 | 44 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 94 | 241 | 183 | 1898 | 1st, Northwest | 2006 | — | — | W, 4–3,OKC | L, 1–4,BS | — | |||
| 2006–07 | 64 | 46 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 93 | 256 | 182 | 1944 | 1st, Northwest | 2007 | — | W, 4–2,YNG | W, 4–3,OKC | W, 4–2,MEM | W, 4–2,LAR | |||
| 2007–08 | 64 | 37 | 20 | 2 | 5 | 81 | 254 | 223 | 1637 | 1st, Northwest | 2008 | — | BYE | W, 4–1,YNG | W, 4–3,TEX | L, 0–4,ARZ | |||
| 2008–09 | 64 | 45 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 94 | 275 | 195 | 1429 | 1st, Northwest | 2009 | — | BYE | W, 4–0,BS | W, 4–2,MIS | L, 1–4,TEX | |||
| 2009–10 | 64 | 42 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 91 | 277 | 208 | 1557 | 2nd, Northern | 2010 | — | BYE | L, 0–4,BS | — | — | |||
| 2010–11 | 66 | 40 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 84 | 250 | 199 | 1352 | 2nd, Turner | 2011 | — | W, 3–1,QC | W, 3–1,MO | W, 4–3,RC | L, 3–4BS | |||
| ECHL | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2011–12 | 72 | 38 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 82 | 250 | 252 | 1485 | 2nd, Mountain | 2012 | — | L, 0–3,STK | — | — | — | |||
| 2012–13 | 72 | 34 | 31 | 3 | 4 | 75 | 239 | 224 | 1534 | 3rd, Mountain | 2013 | — | L, 2–4,IDA | — | — | — | |||
| 2013–14 | 71 | 33 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 78 | 211 | 218 | 1158 | 4th, Mountain | 2014 | — | L, 2–4,IDA | — | — | — | |||
| 2014–15 | 72 | 41 | 23 | 4 | 4 | 90 | 236 | 209 | 1457 | 3rd, Pacific | 2015 | — | L, 3–4,ONT | — | — | — | |||
| 2015–16 | 72 | 41 | 27 | 3 | 1 | 86 | 232 | 193 | 1427 | 1st, West | 2016 | — | L, 2–4,UTA | — | — | — | |||
| 2016–17 | 72 | 47 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 99 | 265 | 206 | 1415 | 2nd, Mountain | 2017 | — | W, 4–1,IDA | W, 4–2,ALN | W, 4–1,TOL | W, 4–0SC | |||
| 2017–18 | 72 | 48 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 102 | 265 | 214 | 1377 | 1st, Mountain | 2018 | — | W, 4–2,WIC | W, 4–0,IDA | W, 4–3,FW | W, 4–3,FLA | |||
| American Hockey League | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–19 | 68 | 36 | 27 | 4 | 1 | 77 | 191 | 205 | 1114 | 4th, Pacific | 2019 | — | L, 1–3,BAK | — | — | — | |||
| 2019–20 | 56 | 34 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 72 | 188 | 162 | 683 | 2nd, Pacific | 2020 | Season cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic | |||||||
| 2020–21 | 34 | 15 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 34 | 101 | 104 | 318 | 5th, Pacific | 2021[a] | — | OTW, 5–4,ONT | L, 1–5,SJ | — | — | |||
| 2021–22 | 68 | 39 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 85 | 244 | 207 | 815 | 3rd, Pacific | 2022 | W, 2–0,HSK | W, 3–0,ONT | L, 1–3,STK | — | — | |||
| 2022–23 | 72 | 40 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 90 | 210 | 187 | 1000 | 3rd, Pacific | 2023 | W, 2–0,ONT | L, 2–3,CV | — | — | — | |||
| 2023–24 | 72 | 40 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 87 | 215 | 195 | 1029 | 4th, Pacific | 2024 | L, 1–2,ABB | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2024–25 | 72 | 43 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 94 | 250 | 185 | 827 | 1st, Pacific | 2025 | BYE | W, 3–1,SJ | L, 2–3,ABB | — | — | |||
Updated November 18, 2025.[27]
| No. | Player | Position | Career | No. retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Riley Nelson | C | 2003–2014 | December 12, 2014[28] |
| 17 | Ryan Tobler | LW | 2003–2010 | March 27, 2015[29] |
| 23 | Aaron Schneekloth | D | 2006–2013 | March 22, 2019[30] |
| 27 | Brad Williamson | D | 2003–2008 | March 22, 2019[30] |
| 89 | Greg Pankewicz | RW | 2003–2009 | October 16, 2009[31] |
Ray Miron President's Cup
CHL playoff champion
Kelly Cup
ECHL playoff champion
Bud Poile Governors' Cup
CHL regular season champion
Conference playoff championship
Division titles
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