The Alberta Junior Hockey League has released their official schedule for the 2013-14 regular season and the Canmore Eagles are excited about how their schedule shakes out for the upcoming season.
Canmore will open their 2013-14 regular season with three straight home games beginning with a double header opening weekend on Friday Sept. 6 against the Drumheller Dragons and a Saturday night game (Sept. 7) against the Calgary Canucks. The Eagles will then host the Calgary Mustangs on Friday, Sept. 13.
Other Canmore Eagle highlights for the upcoming AJHL season include the following:
* Canmore will play a 60-game regular season schedule with 29 games at home, 29 games on the road and two games at the AJHL Showcase Weekend in Spruce Grove on Sept. 26 (Whitecourt) and Sept. 27 (Calgary Canucks).
* The Eagles will play four exhibition games this year, with just one game at home on Tuesday, August 27 against the Calgary Canucks. Canmore will then travel to Calgary for a mini pre-season tournament with games against the Calgary Mustangs (August 30), Calgary Canucks (August 31) and Olds (Sept. 1).
*Of their 29 home games, the Eagles will play 11 games on Saturday night, 10 games on Friday night, 5 games on Tuesday, 2 games on Thursday and 1 afternoon game on the Family Day Holiday Monday on February 17.
*The Eagles will play five games in a row on the road in mid-October with away games scheduled for Drumheller (Oct. 13), Drayton Valley (Oct. 18), Grande Prairie (Oct. 19), Whitecourt (Oct. 20) and Okotoks (Oct. 25).
*Canmore will face a very difficult closing schedule as the Eagles will play seven of their last 10 games on the road. During their last 12 games, the Eagles will play Southern Division powerhouse clubs Camrose three times, Brooks twice and Okotoks twice.
*Canmore will wrap up their regular season at home against the defending Canadian Junior Hockey League champions Brooks Bandits on Friday, February 28.
“We’ve crunched the numbers on our home attendance numbers over the past few years, and know that Friday and Saturday nights were the most popular nights for our fans to come out and support us,” said Eagles General Manager and Head Coach Andrew Milne. “We will have 21 of our 29 home games on either Friday or Saturday nights, so we are happy with that. The Family Day Holiday Monday afternoon game also generated some good attendance numbers for us and we were successful in securing that date again.
“As for the last 12 games of the season, it should prove to be a real test for our hockey club. We know that Camrose, Brooks and Okotoks will all be challenging for first-place in the Southern Division standings, so it will be a really good challenge for our hockey club to see how we compete. These games should provide us with a true measuring stick as we prepare for the playoffs.”
Other key dates for the Canmore Eagle’s organization include the following:
Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013 – Canmore Eagles Golf Tournament at Brewster Kananaskis Ranch Golf Resort
Dec. 2-20, 2013 – Canmore Eagles Christmas Tree Sale
Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014 – Canmore “Town Party” at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Centre
Monday, February 17, 2014 – Public “Skate with the Eagles” immediately following their afternoon game against the Calgary Canucks
Saturday, March 1, 2014 – Annual Awards Dinner at the Canmore Golf and Country Club