Despite a two goal effort from defenceman Braiden Doucette, the Canmore Eagles came out on the short end of a 5-4 loss to the hometown Bonnyville Pontiacs in an Alberta Junior Hockey League game played Friday night in Bonnyville.
Doucette, who played for the Pontiacs for the past two seasons, scored two powerplay goals (3rd and 4th), while Logan Ferguson (6th) and Kyle Pauls (4th) rounded out the Eagle scoring.
With the loss, the Eagles record drops to 8-5-1, while Bonnyville improves to 10-5-1.
Canmore goaltender Ryan Bontorin did his best to keep the Eagles in the game stopping 40 of 45 Pontiac shots as the Eagles were outshot by a wide 45-22 margin.
“We were a little sloppy in our defensive zone and spent too much time playing in our end of the rink,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “They play a solid game in their rink. It’s not a traditional size rink and features a smaller neutral zone, and we were unable to find the space to generate our speed game. They did a good job of forcing us to the walls and finishing off their checks. Ryan (Bontorin) gave us a chance to win the game with a strong effort in net, but it wasn’t meant to be. I feel for our guys – they worked hard tonight.”
The Eagles will wrap up their difficult two-game northern road trip with a game in Lloydminster on Saturday night against the rested 11-2 Bobcats.
NOTEBOOK: With a goal and assist last night, Logan Ferguson was named the Eagles “Star of The Game”. With six goals and 11 assists in 14 games, Ferguson has now moved into seventh-place in the AJHL scoring parade. . .Linemate Matt Forchuk also picked up an assist and still leads the AJHL scoring parade with 23 points (9 goals and 14 assists). . . Lane Olson also picked up an assist and sits in fourth-place in the AJHL scoring parade with 21 points. Olson has also picked up at least one point in 10 consecutive games.. . .The Eagles next home game is Friday, October 23 when the Brooks Bandits pay a vist to Canmore.
