It was a bit of déjà vu for the Canmore Eagles last night. For the 2nd time in their last 3 games, the Eagles lost a late 3rd period two-goal lead, to see the opposing team come back and win the game in overtime. The Eagles were up 6-4 over the Dragons last night in Drumheller with under 2 minutes left in the 3rd period. The Dragons scored at 18:42 and 19:23 of the 3rd period to tie the game and force overtime. Shane Ott scored at 1:16 of the overtime period to give the Dragons a 7-6 win. Last Friday night (October 5) in their home opener vs the Okotoks Oilers, the Eagles also lost a 6-4 lead late in the 3rd period and then lost 7-6 in overtime.
“The Dragons got their two late 3rd period goals off lucky bounces,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “You can’t control the bounces, but we need to be sharper mentality and defensively going forward.”
The Eagles did pick up a single point in the standings and their season record is now 5 wins, 2 losses and 2 overtime losses. The Eagles remain in 4th place in the AJHL South Division, one point back of the Calgary Mustangs for 3rd place and 2 points back of Drumheller for 2nd place.
Quinton Ong scored twice (3 & 4) and added an assist. The other goal scorers were Max Giangualano (7), Connor Lyons (5), Alex Young (6) and Mark Drohan (3). Daly Hamilton also had a big night with 3 assists.
The Eagles 2nd line of Tian Rask, Giangualano and Ong have been the best line lately. Milne praised their work ethic saying, “A lot of things are going right for that line now because they’re working hard, they’re skating and they have good chemistry.”
Thomas Davis (3-0-2) went the distance in goal and he made 38 saves. The shots were 45-39 for Drumheller.
The Eagles will look to get back in the win column this weekend as they host the Camrose Kodiaks (3-5-1) for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday night (Oct. 12-13). Puck drop is 7 pm both evenings.
EAGLES’ FUN FACTS:
– The Eagles have 5 players in the Top 20 of the AJHL scoring race. Mark Drohan is tied for 3rd with 15 points, Max Giangualano is tied for 8th with 13 points and Colton Young, Daly Hamilton and Quinton Ong are tied for 13th with 12 points.
– The Eagles have scored 46 goals in only 9 games so far this season, good for 2nd in the AJHL. Drumheller leads the league with 50. In the 2016-17 season, when the Eagles scored 250 goals, their highest total in 14 years, after 9 games, they were at 42 goals scored.