Photo: The Canmore Eagles improved their home record to 16-4-1 with a 3-2 victory over Drumheller on Friday night. (photo courtesy of Julie Wilson)
NEXT HOME GAME – Drayton Valley Thunder – Friday, January 10
Led by Luke Simpson’s two goals and a three-point effort from Jordan Revie, the Canmore Eagles defeated the visiting Drumheller Dragons 3-2 in Alberta Junior Hockey League action on Friday night before a season high crowd of 582 at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
The victory snapped an eight-game winless streak against Drumheller and moves Canmore to within two points of both the Dragons and the Okotoks Oilers in the battle for second-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings.
Special team play was the difference Friday night as the Eagles scored two powerplay goals and effectively killed off all three Drumheller powerplay opportunities.
Eagle defenceman Trey Phillips continued his solid play scoring the game winning goal on a third-period powerplay and also picked up a first-period assist. Phillips leads the Eagles in scoring with 38 points (17 goals and 21 assists) and is the AJHL’s top scoring defenceman.
Eagle rookie netminder Ryan Ferguson also continued to shine stopping 32 of 34 Drumheller shots to improve his record to 15-7-2.
“It was another great team effort tonight,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, whose club is now an impressive 16-4-1 on home ice. “We scored a couple of powerplay goals, killed off our own penalties and Ferguson had another solid game. The boys were also very excited to see such a large crowd in the stands. It was wonderful to come back from the Christmas holidays and see such a packed house to greet us. The Canmore Arena is a tough place to play for visiting teams and a big home town crowd makes it even more difficult. We can’t thank the fans enough for their support.”
The Eagles will now hit the road for a pair of road games next week as they will visit the Calgary Canucks on Tuesday, January 7 and then head to Drumheller on Thursday, January 9 for a re-match against the Dragons. The Eagles next home game is Friday, January 10 when the Drayton Valley Thunder pay a visit to the Canmore Recreation Centre.
NOTEBOOK: The Eagles will be hosting their second annual “TOWN PARTY” fundraiser at the Radisson Hotel on Saturday, January 11. The evening will feature two live bands (The Elektric Squirrels and Retrobution), door prizes, silent auction, raffles and snacks. Tickets are just $25 and are available at Can-Bow Motors, Lockwood Autobody and the Heart Mountain store. . . Since returning from an elbow injury on December 13, Luke Simpson now has 10 points (six goals and four assists) in his past nine games. . . With his three assists last night, Jordan Revie was named the Eagle’s “Star of the Game”. The smooth-skating winger has put up seven points in his last four games and has moved up into third-place in the Eagle’s scoring parade with 29 points in 37 games.