Eagles buzzing with weekend anticipation

The Canmore Eagles had a good skate Thursday (May 14) as they prepare for the Toronto Patriots on Friday, 1 p.m. MT (HNLIve.ca).

The two teams will clash in the first of two quarterfinal matchups at the Centennial Cup in Summerside, P.E.I. Canmore finished second in Pool A while Toronto placed third in Pool B.

Canmore Eagles GM/Head Coach Andrew Milne gave his charges Wednesday off after the team finished up their round-robin games the previous day. The Alberta Junior Hockey League champions posted two regulation-time wins, one overtime victory and one loss.

The head coach liked the way the team reacted during Thursday’s practice.

“Practice was great. Pretty easy. Pretty smooth sailing,” said Milne. “The guys were buzzing.”

Those guys are a collection of teenage players that have come to be part of a team three years in the making. The products of a scouting staff led by Darryl Robinson.

“We have to do our due diligence not only on the ice but the off-ice stuff,” said Robinson, who joined the Eagles six years ago. “Character. Attitude. Where has he been.”

The scouting staff also includes Eric Bay and Bryaden Biccum in Calgary, Mike McInnis and Mason Hawkes in Edmonton, Mick Kartusch in Red Deer, Josh Wilhelm in Airdrie, Jason Bartram in Medicine Hat, Tyler Durrant and Kerry Ellis-Toddington covering Saskatchewan. And in Canmore, the longest serving member of the Eagles’ scouting department Rich Shelian.

“I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys that scouts for us,” said Robinson. “That is because they all want to be here. And the way they get treated by the organization is unbelievable.”

It’s no easy task figuring out if a player is right for the organization and that three years on they could be a national championship contender.

“You try and build groups, with different players,” said Milne. “Obviously, we put this group together thinking of [Haruki] Morikawa, [Casey] Black, [Tavynn] Hamilton, [Bryson] Insinger and [Cohen] Daoust. We put together a core group and built around them as needed.”

Adding and subtracting players is all part of the process. In the case of the Eagles the season-ending injury to Black in January meant some hurried calls to find a suitable replacement. It was not a shot in the dark in acquiring Quinn Keeler and Evan Markel to shore up the blue line in the immediate aftermath, but a calculated move hammered out by years of scouting information.

““We have scouting reports on kids from when they were bantam drafts … the book just keeps getting bigger,” noted Milne.

“It’s a collective effort. Hockey is such a small world. We see so many guys. Everybody knows everybody, so you can get a scout that remembers [John] Szabo or Reid Larson, who was watched by Darryl [Robinson] three years ago.”

Both players joined the Eagles at the start of this season.

Scouts have become more important in today’s hockey landscape they have ever been.

“There are lots of different paths. There is no one direction anymore for a player. The path is so broad now you have to be covering different areas, different leagues and different teams,” said Milne.

Robinson notes he was a pineboard forward during his playing days while growing up in Prince Albert, Sask.

“I watched a lot of hockey from sitting on the bench, so maybe that is where I got the eye for seeing what guys are getting right or wrong,” said Robinson. After moving to Calgary in 1986, he started helping coach at the AA ranks.

Robinson reached out to the then recently crowned Memorial Cup champion Prince Albert Raiders in the form of a letter – handwritten and posted – to which he got a reply to come out to camp and see if scouting is in his future.

“It just went from there. I have scouted for Prince Albert and Regina in the Western league,” said Robinson. “Then took a break to raise a young family … got back into it starting with Olds, then Okotoks, then a couple of other teams and then landed (in Canmore). It has been the best thing I could ever imagine.”

“At this point in my life, I don’t think there is any job or volunteer position that could pry me away. I am here until they don’t want me anymore.”

Scouting season never stops. Robinson finally got to Summerside on Monday after spending the first few days of the Centennial Cup near the Pacific Coast, a Global Sports Camp in Langley, B.C., talking hockey to parents and players, adding names and notes to that scouting book.

“You want to bat the bushes and pound the pavement as much as you can. A player like [Conor] Watson, I saw him two years ago in Las Vegas at the Global Sports Camps and it was a long conversation … and he is now one of our top defencemen,” said Robinson.

So, what makes Robinson smile?

“An example is when I got (to Summerside) on Monday and [Eagles governor] John Straw picked me up and took me to the house where all the parents are at – that Rhonda Tkachuk was coordinating – and I had to stand back and these 45 people interact and get along. I have never seen a band of parents and players that expressed ‘we have got each other’s back. That’s a big, big thing. It’s a pretty cool thing to watch,” said Robinson.

“That all starts at the top. The way Darryl [Lockwood, president] treats us. The way Andrew [Milne] treats us and give us the rein to go out and find the right guys – to make the odd mistake.”

Canmore needs to win three consecutive games over three days to claim the Centennial Cup. A victory over the Ontario Junior Hockey League champions on Friday puts the Eagles into a semifinal clash with Collège Français de Longueuil, the Quebec Junior Hockey League champions and Pool B winners, on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. MT.

The other quarterfinal features host Summerside Western Capitals versus the Maritime Junior Hockey League rival Truro Bearcats, 4:30 p.m. MT. The winner will take on the Niverville Nighthawks, Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions, on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT.

The championship game is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. MT. (HNLive.ca, TSN+).

OVERTIME: All games are being streamed as pay-per-view on HNLive.ca, with Sunday’s championship game also available on TSN+. … Patrinos Steak House & Pub is hosting all-ages watch parties throughout the Centennial Cup to bring Canmore Eagles’ fans together to cheer on and celebrate the team.

(RW-OTW-OTL-RL—Pts)

Pool A: 1. x-Niverville (3-1-0-0—11), 2. y-Canmore (2-1-0-1—8), y-3. Summerside (2-0-1-1—7), 4. Rockland (1-0-1-2—4), 5. Thunder Bay (0-0-0-4—0).

Pool B: x-1. CF de Longueuil (3-0-0-1—9), y-2. Truro (2-0-0-2—6), y-3. Toronto (2-0-0-2—6), 4. Flin Flon (2-0-0-2—6), 5. Greater Sudbury (1-0-0-3—3).

x-semifinal place

y-quarterfinal place

(All times MT)

Friday, May 15: Toronto vs Canmore, 1 p.m.; Summerside vs Truro, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 16: Semifinal No. 1, 1 p.m.; Semifinal No. 2, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday: May 17: Championship Game, 4:00 p.m.

May 13: CF de Longueuil 7 Toronto 4; Rockland 6 Niverville 7; Truro1 Flin Flon 3

May 12: Greater Sudbury 1 CF de Longueuil 3; Niverville 6 Canmore 4; Thunder Bay 3 Summerside 4

May 11:  Flin Flon 6 Greater Sudbury 4; Rockland 8 Thunder Bay 2; Toronto 1 Truro 6

May 10: Truro 2 CF de Longueuil 1; Summerside 1 Canmore 5

May 9: Thunder Bay 2 Niverville 7; Flin Flon 2 Toronto 7; Summerside 4 Rockland 2

May 8: Flin Flon 0 CF de Longueuil 1; Canmore 3 Thunder Bay 2; Greater Sudbury 4 Truro 1

May 7: Greater Sudbury 3 Toronto 8; Rockland 2 Canmore 3 (OT); Niverville 5 Summerside 4 (OT)