Daoust dealings douse Dragons

Cohen Daoust continued his torrid scoring touch on Tuesday (Oct. 14) with his two-goal performance leading the Canmore Eagles to a 5-2 victory over the Drumheller Dragons.

The Alberta Junior Hockey League clash before a full house of 752 fans at the Canmore Recreation Centre brought together two of the league’s best for a second time this season. Together they provided an entertaining and highly charged spectacle that epitomizes the rivalry that has sprung up between these two franchises.

The victory improved Canmore to 6-3-0-0 for 12 points, second best in the South Division to Drumheller, now 6-2-0-2 for 14 points. The Eagles, with a game in hand on the Dragons, have won three consecutive games, and have a perfect record of three wins in home games.

Canmore, having last played Oct. 5, looked well rested and ready to avenge an opening night (Sept. 19) 5-3 loss in Drumheller.

Much like that first game, Canmore scored first. This night it was a John Szabo’s rifle blast (his 3rd goal of the season) at 18:32 of the first period. The goal came via the power play, which the Eagles used to great affect this night. However, the Dragons would answer with just five seconds remaining in the period when Kaiden Schaupmeyer (1) saw his long shot deflect off an Eagle defender and over the catching glove of netminder Alex Scheiwiller.

Aidan Tkachuk (7) gave Canmore the lead again at 17:03 of the second period, almost apologetically having the puck bounce off his body and slip into the open net during a wild scramble in front of goal. The power-play goal was originally awarded to Daoust, which would have meant a hat trick performance, but changed post game.

Drumheller’s Wyatt Yule (1) tied the contest at 5:14 of the third period, batting the puck off Scheiwiller and into the goal as a long dump-in came off the back boards.

For 50 minutes, the two teams appeared evenly matched in trading goals, although probably only because of the sheer excellence of Drumheller goaltender Sean Cootes. The Dragons netminder willed his team into contention in this contest keeping it from being a lop-sided affair with several scintillating glove-hand saves, with two of his best denying Eagles captain Casey Black in the first period when he appeared to have an open net and John Szabo in the second period on a penalty shot.

Unfortunately for Cootes and the Dragons, fortune would favour the home team in the final eight minutes and gave the Eagles a hard-earned and deserved victory. Daoust (9) would score the Eagles’ third power-play goal, a one-timer off a pass from Hudson Landmark from behind the goal, at 12:04 extending his personal goal-scoring streak to a goal in each of the Eagles’ nine games. The game-winning goal was followed 14 seconds later by Reid Larson (2), from the blue line along the ice and under Cootes, for a two-goal cushion. Daoust (10) would then score his second of the game into an empty net at 16:53.

Daoust now has 10 goals and six assists this season for 16 points, tying him for second place in AJHL scoring.

Canmore outshot Drumheller 37-31, with the Eagles holding an 18-8 advantage in the third period.

On the power play, Canmore finished 3-for-6 while Drumheller was 0-for-4.

Landmark picked up three assists in the game to extend his assists streak to seven games. He has one goal and 10 assists over that span, and through nine games has 12 points (1G-11A).

Will Lutic picked up two helpers in Tuesday’s victory to give him a league-leading 12 assists on the season. He now has 15 points (3G-12A).

Another Eagle off to a hot start is Tkachuk, who also had an assist to go with his goal, at 14 points (7G-7A) in nine games.

Canmore heads out for another three-games-in-three-days road trip, with stops in Camrose on Friday, Oct. 17, Bonnyville on Saturday, Oct. 18 – both games are 7 p.m. starts – and Lloydminster on Sunday, Oct. 19, beginning at 2:30 p.m.

OVERTIME: Tuesday’s game gave Canmore hockey fans a look at one of their native sons in Dragons’ sensational rookie Tyler Deakos, who has spent the past five years playing outside the community at Edge School and the U18 Airdrie CFR Bisons. The 18-year-old, although held off the scoresheet this night, leads all AJHL rookies with 14 points (7G-7A). Deakos was named the AJHL rookie of the week for each of the past two weeks, Sept. 29 to Oct. 5 and Oct. 6-12. … Canmore’s captain Black was named the AJHL defenceman of the week for Sept. 29 to Oct. 5 after picking up four points (2G-2A) in that weekend’s two victories. … The Eagles have just two more home games this month, both against Camrose: Friday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 25. … … All AJHL games can be viewed with a flohockey.tv subscription. … The Canmore Eagles are in need of more volunteers to help with game day experiences, email info@canmoreeagles.com for more information on opportunities and game-day perks that come with being part of the Game Day Crew.