Colorado Eagles will square off with Chicago Wolves on Opening Night, Oct. 5

The first American Hockey League game in the history of the state of Colorado is upon us, and its date was announced on Tuesday.

On October 5, 2018, the Colorado Eagles will host the Chicago Wolves at 7:05 p.m. MT in Loveland’s Budweiser Events Center. This matchup will be the Eagles’ opening night game in their inaugural season. The Eagles were granted the right to be the AHL’s newest expansion team last October.

The NHL and AHL again have a 1:1 affiliate ratio after the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights had to share the roster of the Wolves last season. Following the 2017-18 season, the former Avalanche affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, became the affiliate of the Blues, the Eagles were promoted from the ECHL to the AHL, and the Utah Grizzlies were added to be the newest Avalanche ECHL affiliate.

The full Eagles schedule will be announced on Wednesday, while ticket sales will open to the public on September 19. The Eagles schedule will consist of a reduced 68 game slate to compensate for the difficulties of travel in the west.

In their final two seasons as an ECHL squad, the Eagles had great success, winning back-to-back Kelly Cups. In their promotion to the AHL, they will essentially be taking over a Rampage roster that finished last in the Pacific Division last year with a 35-31-10 record.

The Eagles’ roster will be shaped largely following the Avalanche training camp and the determination of who makes the NHL club, but it’ll be a mixture of AHL veterans and up-and-coming prospects. Expect Conor Timmins, J.C. Beaudin and Nicolas Meloche to be a few of the most prominent players this season.

2018 first round draft pick Martin Kaut is expected to play for the Eagles as well, as the Denver Post reported recently.