Roadrunners recap: 10/3/2026
Game #1: Tucson Roadrunners (0) vs Colorado Eagles (2)
SOG: TUC (32) – COL (20)
PP: TUC (0/3) – COL (0/4)
COLORADO SCORING: Nikita Prishchepov (1), Jake Wise (1)
TUCSON SCORING:
TUCSON, AZ – After a long offseason, the Tucson Roadrunners (0-1-0-0) kicked off the 2026-27 season on home ice Saturday with a 2-0 shutout loss to the Colorado Eagles (1-0-0-0) at Tucson Arena. Eagles forwards Nikita Prishchepov and Jake Wise scored two goals in a 2:54 span in the second period, while goaltender Ilya Nabokov stopped all 32 shots he faced to spoil Tucson’s home opener.
Eight Roadrunners made their AHL debuts, including forwards Tij Iginla, Caleb Desnoyers, Yegor Borikov, Gabe Smith and Vadim Moroz, along with defensemen Gregor Biber, Tomas Lavoie and Cal Thomas.
People are also reading…
Fellow rookie Michael Hrabal started in net for the Roadrunners and stopped 18 of 20 shots faced. Tucson forward Joshua Roy led all skaters with four shots on goal.
Highlights
Team notes
- Saturday marked the first time in franchise history the Roadrinners were shut out in a season opener and just the second time they have been held scoreless in a home opener. The previous occurrence came in 2023-24, when Tucson was shut out by the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The rundown
First period
Both teams traded early power-play chances in the opening five minutes, but neither side capitalized on the man advantage. After the Roadrunners killed off Kevin Rooney’s early hooking penalty, Tucson rookie Vadim Moroz created a grade-A scoring chance when he drove to the net from the left circle and deked to the far side of the crease, but Colorado goaltender Ilya Nabokov denied his forehand attempt with his pad to keep the game scoreless.
With the game still deadlocked, Tucson’s Cameron Hebig nearly opened the scoring when he circled behind the Colorado net and fired a hard wrist shot on goal, but Nabokov deflected it away with his shoulder with just over seven minutes remaining in the period.
Just over a minute later, Tucson continued to apply pressure when rookie Tomas Lavoie rifled a shot from the blue line through traffic and past Nabokov, but the puck rang off the left post and out of harm’s way.
Despite the Roadrunners holding an 11-9 edge in shots and controlling possession for much of the opening 20 minutes, the game went into the first intermission still knotted at 0-0.
Second period
Tucson killed off an early Ben McCartney holding penalty before going on the power play themselves after Colorado’s Yanick Turcotte was whistled for tripping. On the man advantage, Joshua Roy nearly opened the scoring with a beautiful toe drag around a defender into an open shooting lane in the slot, but his point-blank wrist shot was turned aside by Nabokov eight minutes into the period.
After killing off Tucson’s second power play of the evening, Colorado opened the scoring just before the halfway mark when Nikita Prishchepov sprung free on a breakaway and beat Michael Hrabal five-hole to put the Eagles ahead 1-0 at 9:20.
Colorado struck again less than three minutes later when Jake Wise’s wrist shot beat Hrabal from the top of the right circle to double the lead to 2-0 at 12:17.
Tucson responded by outshooting Colorado 7-2 over the remainder of the period, highlighted by Tomas Lavoie’s point-blank chance from the slot. Despite holding a 10-6 edge in shots in the frame, and 21-15 overall, the Roadrunners entered the second intermission trailing the Eagles 2-0.
Third period
The Eagles controlled possession early in the period after opening the final frame on the power play and held the Roadrunners to just one shot on goal through the first 10 minutes. McCartney gave Tucson a spark when he outraced a pair of Colorado defenders to a loose puck in the Eagles’ end, but the puck drifted just out of reach before the Roadrunners’ assistant captain could corral it for a breakaway.
Tucson went on the man advantage for the third time of the night shortly after when Tristen Nielsen was whistled for slashing. The Roadrunners generated a couple of good looks, but the power play was negated in the waning seconds when Hebig went to the box for tripping with nine minutes remaining.
Hrabal made one of the best saves of the night on the ensuing penalty kill when Colorado’s Christian Wolanin faked a wraparound and tried to tuck the puck inside the short side, but Hrabal denied him with the paddle to keep it a two-goal game. Nabokov answered on the next shift when he robbed Austin Poganski on Tucson’s shorthanded odd-man rush. Poganski nearly stuffed home his own rebound after his wrist shot was denied, but Nabokov sprawled out to somehow keep the Roadrunners captain off the board.
Needing a pair of late goals with just over three minutes to play, Tucson pulled Hrabal for the extra attacker with 3:30 remaining. Tij Iginla had a quality look from just outside the crease with three minutes left, and defenseman Artem Duda nearly cut Tucson’s deficit in half with a wrist shot from the right circle with 1:30 remaining, but Nabokov turned both attempts aside to preserve the shutout.
