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Wranglers series preview: Visiting the Eagles for the first road games of 2025
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Jan 10, 2025, 14:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 10, 2025, 13:46 EST
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After a six game homestand, the Calgary Wranglers are headed on the road this weekend to face the Colorado Eagles. The guys got some time away from game action this week as they ramp up for the weekend. They’ve been perfect against the Avalanche affiliate so far this season so we will see if this series follows suit.

Projected lines

Calgary 
William Stromgren – Clark Bishop – Dryden Hunt
Adam Klapka – Sam Honzek – Martin Frk 
Lucas Ciona – Sam Morton – Parker Bell
Alex Gallant – David Silye – Trevor Janicke
Hunter Brzustewicz – Yan Kuznetsov
Jonathan Aspirot – Ilya Solovyov 
Artem Grushnikov – Jeremie Poirier 
Devin Cooley
Waltteri Ignatjew 
Colorado 
Oskar Olausson – Jayson Megna – Matthew Phillips
Nikita Prischepov – T.J. Tynan – Chris Wagner 
Jason Polin – Jake Wise – Jean-Luc Foudy
Maros Jedlicka – Mark Senden – Chase Bradley
Jack Ahcan – Jacob MacDonald
John Ludvig – Calle Rosen
Devante Stephens – Wyatt Aamodt
Kevin Mandolese
Adam Scheel

Leaders

Calgary 
Rory Kerins – 34GP, 21G, 13A (inactive on NHL call-up)
Dryden Hunt – 32GP, 7G, 22A
Clark Bishop – 32G, 14G, 12A
Colorado 
Matthew Phillips – 27GP, 6G, 17A
Jayson Megna – 26GP, 8G, 14A
Jacob MacDonald – 27GP, 9G, 11A

Notes and expectations

With their last game being just last Sunday, there has been quite a bit of news around the Flames’ AHL affiliate since. First off, is some clarity on what kept Clark Bishop out of select games in the last couple of weeks. His wife and him welcomed a baby girl in early January so thankfully his absences haven’t been related to injury or performance by any means. We congratulate the Bishop family on this new addition and wish the Captain and his family all the best with their new addition to their family.
Another interesting tidbit of news is the announcement of the AHL All-Star rosters for the event in early February. The Wranglers already secured a coaching position for Team Pacific that will be represented by the coach at that time. Whether that is Trent Cull or Joe Cirella, depends on circumstance. On the player side, it may not come as a surprise, but Devin Cooley and Rory Kerins will be representing Calgary in Palm Desert, CA. 
In some trickle down news from the Flames, they had an unfortunate scenario with Connor Zary earlier this week as he suffered a knee-on-knee collision in their game against the Anaheim Ducks. As we await confirmation on the extent of the likely ligament damage, the Flames will be looking to their AHL squad for a centre or winger reinforcement. (Conversely, we’ll likely see a Wranglers recall from the ECHL to ensure roster coverage.)
At this point, it feels like it has got to be Rory Kerins. The Wranglers top line center is having a career year and has earned the right to be next in the calling order for an NHL opportunity. Also in that conversation may be someone like Dryden Hunt. Hunt has history with the Flames and they are a bit more aware of his skill set. The same goes for Sam Honzek. Either way, there will be effects to the lines. Friday will reveal who is missing from the road trip as the Flames are set to play next on Saturday night at home. 
Update: Kerins has been called up.
Looking into this series, the Wranglers and Eagles have not had a lot of action against each other this season so far. They have only played twice back at the start of the season. They had two one goal decisions that resulted in a series sweep for Calgary. On Oct. 25, Calgary won 3-2 and 2-1 on Oct. 27. Prior to this game, the Wranglers fell to the Manitoba Moose on Sunday after a busy four game week of hockey. The Eagles are coming off a loss as well to the San Jose Barracuda on Jan. 5. 
We’ll see which team brings themselves back into the winning side of things starting on Friday. This series will continue into a back-to-back rematch on Saturday. Both games have a 7:05 p.m. MT puck drop and they will be streamed for a fee on Flo Hockey. Multiple FlamesNation contributors will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).

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