AJHL final: Wolverines pull out late win in Game 3

The Canmore Eagles were within two minutes of taking a stranglehold on their Alberta Junior Hockey League championship against the Whitecourt Wolverines only to have it slip away.

Spencer Claerhout’s shot from the point travelled through a crowd in front of the Canmore goal and into the net with 10.5 seconds remaining to give the visiting Wolverines a 3-2 victory on Tuesday (April 21). The Eagles still hold a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The victory ended a 10-game AJHL championship losing streak for Whitecourt, that dated back to the 2017 playoffs, while the loss by Canmore ended this playoff season’s eight-game winning streak.

Brendan Ruskowski scored twice for Whitecourt and has a playoff leading 11 goals. His first goal opened the scoring at 5:57 of the first period and came on the power play. The Wolverines would go 1-for-2 with the man advantage this night.

Easton Milne (6th goal of the playoffs) scored for the third successive game to tie the contest at 10:16 of the second period, and for the third time this series would enter the third period tied at 1-1.

Will Lutic (7) with a sniper’s shot on the short side just above Elliott Pratt’s left pad, would give Canmore a 2-1 lead, as the Eagles would go 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

It looked like that goal would be the game winner up until the final three minutes.

Ruskowski tied the game at 17:07 rifling the puck into the goal off a Xander Schulte pass, after he chased down an errant pass in the Canmore zone.

Then seemingly overtime was on the horizon only to have some strong forechecking force another turnover in the Eagles’ zone that proved the impetus for the game winning shot by Claerhout.

Canmore outshot Whitecourt 30-29, although the Eagles only had five shots on goal in the third period.

Home-ice advantage all this season has meant nothing to these two teams. Canmore won two regular-season games in Whitecourt and the first two games of this series. The Wolverines have three consecutive victories at the Canmore Recreation Centre this season, including two in the regular season.

Game 4 of the series is Wednesday, April 22 at the CRC with game time 7 p.m.

Game 1 – Canmore 3 at Whitecourt 1

Game 2 – Canmore 3 at Whitecourt 2

Game 3 – Whitecourt 3 at Canmore 2

(Canmore leads the series 2-1)

Game 4 – Whitecourt at Canmore, Wednesday, April 22 (Canmore Recreation Centre, 7 p.m.)

Game 5 – Canmore at Whitecourt, Saturday, April 25 (JDA Place, 7 p.m.)

(if necessary)

Game 6 – Whitecourt at Canmore, Tuesday, April 28 (Canmore Recreation Centre, 7 p.m.)

Game 7 – Canmore at Whitecourt, Friday, May 1 (JDA Place, 7 p.m.)

OVERTIME:  You can also join the crowd at Patrino’s restaurant for game day watch parties as you follow the Canmore Eagles throughout the playoffs with your local broadcast team – Russ Ullyot (play-by-play) and Zach Amin (analyst) – available at flohockey.tv.