Series preview: Wranglers host Eagles for NextGen Series

Both the Colorado Eagles and Calgary Wranglers are coming off losses to the Coachella Valley Firebirds as they go into their weekend series against each other. The Wranglers are 1-8-0-1 in their last 10 and look to flip things around for their last few home games of the regular season. They see each other twice this weekend and Sunday will be Calgary’s NextGen game with custom designed Wranglers jerseys designed by a young local artist. The Eagles come to town second in the division standings and looking to clinch a playoff berth so they’ll have a distinct motivation in these games. 

Last game’s lines

Calgary

Dryden Hunt – Sam Morton – Aydar Suniev

Brennan Othmann – Clark Bishop – Lucas Ciona

William Stromgren – Justin Kirkland

Alex Gallant – Carter King – Parker Bell

Turner Ottenbreit – Daniil Miromanov

Nick Cicek – Gavin White

Etienne Morin – Simon Mack

Chase Pauls

Arsenii Sergeev

Colorado

Alex Barre-Boulet – Jayson Megna – Tye Felhaber

Tristen Nielsen – T.J. Tynan – Taylor Makar

Valtteri Puustinen – Ivan Ivan – Jason Polin

Luke Toporowski – Jake Wise – Danil Gushchin

Jack Ahcan – Wyatt Aamodt

Aiden Hansen-Bukata – Bryan Yoon 

Keaton Middleton – Gustav Stjernberg

Trent Miner

Leaders

Calgary 

Dryden Hunt – 44GP, 17G, 35A

Martin Frk -59Gp, 25G, 26A

Rory Kerins – 50GP, 17G, 28A

Colorado 

Alex Barre-Boulet – 61GP, 23G, 41A

Jayson Megna – 61GP, 25G, 23A

Jack Ahcan – 52GP, 9G, 36A

Notes and expectations

It’s been a while since these teams faced off. They’ve played four games so far this season and the Eagles have the edge in the season series. Three of the four have been decided outside of regulation in one goal decisions. Calgary has a 1-2-1-0 record against the Colorado Avalanche affiliate. They last saw each other on Dec. 30 and Jan. 1 where the Eagles won 6-5 in game one and the Wranglers won 3-2 in game two. The Colorado organization has depth all the way through so these games are expected to be a challenge for the Flames’ affiliate.

Calgary may or may not get a couple of top scorers back for this series as Rory Kerins was announced earlier this week to be close to returning. They’ve been cautious with Kerins and while the motivation of maybe making another appearance with the Flames before the end of the season can be very enticing, it’s more important that he is healthy enough to play. Martin Frk also did not join the team for the road trip due to the birth of his second child so his timeline to return is unknown. In the meantime, we hope his whole family is healthy and hockey will be there for him when he is ready to return. 

In the meantime, Dryden Hunt has been carrying the weight for the team’s top scorers. Over their road trip, he exceeded his career record in points. He’s now exceeded it by three points going into this weekend. He has 52 points in 44 games, broken down by 17 goals and 35 assists. He was very noticeable in the last two games and was even being double shifted in Coachella Valley to fill in on the odd line with Justin Kirkland and William Stromgren. 

This series starts on Friday and wraps up on Sunday. Both games have a 1:00 p.m. MT start time. Tickets are still available for both games if you’d like to catch them in person at the Scotiabank Saddledome or streaming options are available for a fee on Flo Hockey. FlamesNation contributors Ryan Pike and I will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).