PHOTO – After missing six games with an injury, defenceman Nikolas Kosman returned to Eagle’s lineup this weekend and scored the overtime winner Saturday night as Canmore defeated Olds 3-2. – (Julie Wilson photo)
NEXT GAME – At Okotoks Oilers on Friday, October 24
NEXT HOME GAME – Bonnyville Pontiacs – Saturday, October 25
In the sporting world, the expression “Defence Wins Games” was never more appropriate than in last night’s Alberta Junior Hockey League game played between the visiting Canmore Eagles and the home-town Olds Grizzlys.
The Eagles received three goals from three separate defencemen as they went on to register a 3-2 overtime decision over the Grizzlys before 510 fans at the Olds Sportsplex.
After going scoreless for over five periods of hockey, including a 1-0 road loss to the Drumhller Dragons on Friday night, the Eagles received second period goals from D-men Jakob Lavoie (1st) and Jeremy Gordon (2nd) before fellow defenceman Nikolas Kosman (2nd) skated end-to-end and fired home the game-winner with just .26 seconds remaining in the five-minute overtime period.
The victory was the first win for Canmore over Olds in three attempts this season and improves the Eagles early season record to 8-7. With the overtime loss, the Grizzlys record falls to 9-5-3.
Eagle goaltender Ryan Ferguson was again superb in the Canmore net stopping 34 of 36 Grizzly shots directed his way. After a few struggles early in the season, Ferguson now sports a 6-7 record and has lowered his “Goals Against Average” down to 3.15 and upped his “Save Percentage” to .912.
“After that tough 1-0 loss to Drum on Friday night, the team really buckled down and played a solid road game last night,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, whose club went 0-4 on the powerplay for the second straight game. “Our offence has kind of dried up for the past couple of games, but our defenceman really came through for us when we needed them. It was big character win for the team – something we can build on going forward.”
The Eagles next action is Friday, October 24 when they travel to Okotoks to take on the second-place Oilers, who are red-hot posting an 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games.
Canmore will then return home on Saturday, October 25 to face the visiting Bonnyville Pontiacs at the Canmore Recreation Centre. Game time is 7 PM.
NOTEBOOK: Eagle captain Connor Wilson picked up an assist in last night’s game in Olds and has now hit the magical 100 career point mark in just 133 AJHL games played. Wilson has 20 points in just 15 games this season and currently sits in sixth-place in the AJHL scoring parade, five points back of top scorer Alex Plevy of the Brooks Bandits. . . .Calgary Flame announcer BEESLEY has once again agreed to perform the PA duties for a Canmore Eagles home game this year and will kindly man the microphone for the November 1 home game against the Camrose Kodiaks.
