Double Trouble

Home-Sweet-Home it may have been last season, but the Canmore Eagles aren’t enjoying life inside the Canmore Recreation Centre at the present time.

The Eagles lost both weekend Alberta Junior Hockey League games: 4-3 to the Devon Xtreme on Friday (Nov. 14) and 2-0 to the Whitecourt Wolverines on Saturday (Nov. 15) – teams at the opposite ends of the North Division standings.

There was not much to praise in the two losses: the team’s leading scorer, Cohen Daoust, continued to shine up front registering a goal and two assists on Friday; Alex Scheiwiller was again outstanding between the pipes on Saturday making 28 saves against the top-scoring team in the league.

A four-game homestand saw the Eagles win the first game – 4-3 over the Grande Prairie Storm in Banff on Nov. 5 – but then lose the last three games, being shutout twice including 3-0 by the Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Nov. 7. The Eagles’ home record is now 5-3-1-0.

As a result, Canmore is now 9-9-1-0 and still on 19 points third in the South Division behind the Calgary Canucks (11-7-0-0) at 22 points and Camrose Kodiaks (10-8-0-0) at 20 points.

The Drumheller Dragons (8-9-1-2) are fourth – also on 19 points – after blowing third period leads in both its games to lose by 5-4 scores to Camrose and in overtime to the Olds Grizzlys.

Canmore lost just seven times on home ice all last season: four of those were in regulation time, two in overtime and one in a shootout. The team lost back-to-back games at the Recreation Centre once last campaign and following those early November setbacks went on a run of 15 wins in 16 games, with the only loss coming in overtime.

Canmore heads out on the road to finish up November with games in Devon on Friday, Nov. 21 (7 p.m.), Whitecourt on Saturday, Nov. 22 (7 p.m.) and Drayton Valley on Sunday, Nov. 23 (2 p.m.).

It looked like it would be business as usual for Canmore against Devon (7-7-0-1), the last place team in the North Division after staking themselves to a 2-0 lead just past the mid-point of the first period. After all, the Eagles beat the Xtreme in all four meetings last season.

Devon though seemed to draw some inspiration from a late first-period, power-play marker to go on to score four consecutive goals and hold on for the victory.

Daoust (15 goals on the season) scored 6:34 into the opening period and was followed by a power-play goal by John Szabo (7) five minutes later.

Stefan Serediak (6), who played 39 games as a rookie for the Eagles in the 2023-2024 season (2G-3A), would get Devon on the board at 16:21. The Xtreme would then add two more power-play goals – and finish 3-for-3 with the man advantage – in the second period. The first came from Lincoln Martin (4) at 5:20 and the second from Ben Deacon (10) at 17:18.

Jason Huang (3) made it two-goal lead at 5:49 of the third period before Aidan Tkachuk (11) backhanded in a late consolation goal for Canmore at 18:29.

Canmore outshot Devon 40-29 with Tyler Swanson (2-2/3.49/.908) putting in a superb performance for the Xtreme. Huson Sedo (3-4/3.72/,889) was in goal for the Eagles, making back-to-back starts for the first time this season.

Canmore was 1-for-5 on the power play.

Whitecourt (15-4-0) showed why they are the top scoring, top defending and top team overall in the AJHL this season with a solid display to revenge a 4-2 loss to the Eagles in Whitecourt earlier this season.

It wasn’t as if the home team was bad, for the most part of this game they were equal to the visitors. Just the Wolverines were sharper in their execution with two second period goals the difference. Jalen Bianchet is the runaway league leader in goals and sniped his 24th of the season in 19 games, on the power play at 6:41, followed by Jason Barrett (4) funnelling the puck through a crowd and into the goal in the final minute of the period.

The goaltending battle was worth the price of admission. Scheiwiller (6-6/3.18/.910) for the Eagles and Elliott Pratt (8-3/2.19/.918) for the Wolverines, in picking up his second shutout of the season, were outstanding for their respective teams, making 28 and 23 saves respectively.

On the power play, Whitecourt was 1-for-5 and Canmore 0-for-3.

There is certainly plenty of time to turn things around at the Canmore Recreation Centre before the year runs out. Following next weekend’s road trip, the Eagles play five of their seven December games on home ice.

OVERTIME: Calgary had to postpone both its weekend home games – against Devon and Whitecourt – due to mechanical issues at the Max Bell Arena. … Can’t get to a game in person, all AJHL games can be viewed with a flohockey.tv subscription. … The Canmore Eagles are always in need of more volunteers to help with game day experiences whether you are new to the game or an avid hockey supporter, email info@canmoreeagles.com for more information on opportunities and game-day perks that come with being part of the Game Day Crew.