While the Avalanche and their top affiliate, the AHL San Antonio Rampage missed the playoffs, the ECHL Colorado Eagles will be playing into May.

The Eagles, in their first season as an Avalanche affiliate, will open a best-of-seven series Friday against the Allen (Texas) Americans in the Mountain Division final of the Kelly Cup playoffs.

After losing their first-round series opener to the Idaho Steelheads, the Eagles won four games in a row to clinch matters and move on to face the Americans, who are two-time defending league champions.

Colorado didn't advance past the first round in its first five seasons in the ECHL.

"It's a great feeling and the first step in what we're trying to accomplish," first-year coach Aaron Schneekloth told the Loveland Reporter-Herald. "I'm just so proud of how hard our players responded after losing the first game at home. They found a way."

Three Avalanche draft picks -- forward Julien Nantel and two defensemen, Sergei Boikov and Mason Geertsen -- are playing for the Eagles after spending most of the season with San Antonio.

Nantel, 20, has three goals in five playoff games. A seventh-round pick (No. 204) in the 2014 NHL draft, he had five goals, three assists and 10 penalty minutes in 59 games with the Rampage, with two goals in five regular-season games with the Eagles.

"(The Avalanche) want me to get experience and to be a good defensive player," Nantel told the Avalanche web site. "Be good defensively in my zone, take some faceoffs."

Nantel, who is 6-feet and 195 pounds. is in his first professional season after spending three full seasons with Rouyn-Noranda of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The 6-feet-2, 200-pound Boikov, 21, has two assists in four playoff games. He was the Avalanche's sixth-round pick (No. 161) in 2015. He played three years with Drummondville of the QMJHL.

He had three goals, 13 assists and 69 penalty minutes in 63 games with the Rampage, with a goal and an assist in seven games with the Eagles.

"I just want to get more experience, help myself," Boikov said. "Getting better, stronger and prepare to go up to San Antonio or the Avalanche."

The 6-4, 215-pound Geerten, 22, has four penalty minutes in five playoff games. The Avalanche's fourth-round pick (No. 93) in 2013, he played for Edmonton and Vancouver in the Western Hockey League.

A second-year pro, Geertsen had four assists and 52 penalty minutes in 36 games with San Antonio after recovering from a hand injury. He had five assists and 14 penalty minutes in nine regular-season games with the Eagles.

"I think my first year coming in, I was a little nervous to make any plays or make mistakes, stuff like that," he said. "Now, this year, I'm getting more comfortable. I want to make plays, get in the rush and try and score, make some offense."



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