PHOTO: The Canmore Eagles will play a critical home-and-home series against the Olds Grizzlys this weekend. – (Julie Wilson file photo)
UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Jan. 23 – Olds Grizzlys in Olds – 7 PM
Saturday, jan. 24 – Olds Grizzlys at Canmore – 7 PM
With the Alberta Junior Hockey League 2014-15 regular season schedule now at the three-quarter mark, the Canmore Eagles know that their remaining 15 games represent an ideal opportunity to build some positive momentum before embarking on the upcoming playoffs.
The Eagles will open their final quarter of their regular season schedule this weekend with a home-and-home series against the Old Grizzlys featuring a road trip to Olds on Friday night (Jan. 23) and a home game back in Canmore on Saturday night (Jan. 24).
The Grizzlys (20-19-6) currently hold down fifth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 46 points, just three points up on the sixth-place Eagles (21-23-1) who have 43 points.
The two teams have met three times this season with the Grizzlys winning twice (6-4 in Canmore on Sept. 13 and 5-4 in Olds on Sept. 16), while the Eagles claimed a 3-2 overtime victory in Olds during their last meeting back on Oct. 18.
“They’ve picked up five out of a possible six points against us this year and that’s basically the reason that we’re currently trailing them in the standings,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “If we could put together a couple of wins this weekend, we could pass them in the standings and move into fifth-place.“
The Eagles come into the weekend series with a 5-5 record over their past 10 games, while the Grizzlys have gone 3-5-2 in their past 10 games and are winless in their past three games.
“We haven’t played Olds since the middle of October, so it will be interesting to see how we stack up against them now.” said Milne. “I don’t think we’ve played to our potential for the majority of the season, but for the first time in a long time, our team is relatively healthy and rested. This weekend represents an excellent opportunity for our hockey club to go out and prove that we are a better club than our current record indicates. But I’m sure that Olds feels exactly the same way, so it should make for two highly entertaining and competitive games.”
Game time Saturday night at the Canmore Recreation Centre is 7 PM.