EAGLE'S NEXT HOME GAME: SAT., FEB. 23 VERSUS DRUMHELLER
Canmore hockey fans should be in for a great evening of entertainment on Saturday night (Feb. 23) when the home-town Eagles take on the visiting Drumheller Dragons in Alberta Junior Hockey League action at the Canmore Recreation Centre. Game time is 7 PM.
Not only is the game critical to the Eagle’s aspirations of finishing the regular season in fifth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings, but Saturday night‘s game is also being sponsored by Brewster Travel which means many fans will go home with a nice Brewster draw prize in their pockets!
Random ticket draws will be made throughout the night for some great prizes including complimentary tickets for the Calgary Airport shuttle service, Banff’s scenic Gondola, Lake Minnewanka Boat Cruises and Columbia Icefield excursions.
The game itself could also be a sneak preview of the upcoming AJHL first-round playoffs as the Dragons are locked into the fourth-place position, while the Eagles are trying to nail down the fifth-place seed.
The two teams have met each other five times this season, with the Eagles winning the first three games by scores of 3-1, 5-2, and 5-1, before the Dragons bounced back to win the last two games by scores of 5-0 and 5-3.
“We still control our own destiny as far as finishing in fifth-place,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, whose club currently holds a slim one point advantage over the sixth-place Olds Grizzlys and three points on the seventh-place Calgary Mustangs. “We haven’t played our best hockey over the past few weeks and we need to improve our overall game as the playoffs approach. The Dragons have had our number for the past couple games, so we know we will have our work cut out against them. They are a well coached team and they play a very physical style. We need to be prepared to play a “playoff style” game on Saturday night.”
NOTEBOOK: In AJHL action on Friday night, the Brooks Bandits exploded for six unanswered second period goals and went on to defeat the Canmore Eagles by an 8-2 score. Midget callup Colton Sandboe and Bryan Arneson had the Eagle goals. Despite two powerplay opportunities in the period, Canmore was outshot 18-1 in the second period, and 36-14 overall. Sandboe was named the Eagle's “Star of the Game”. . . Defenceman Trey Phillips and forward Steven Phee returned to the Eagle's lineup . . .The Eagles will open their first-round best-of-five playoff series on the road with games on March 6 and 7. Home games for Canmore will follow on Sat. March 9 and, if necessary, Sunday March 10. Both Canmore home games will start at 7 PM.