PHOTO: Brett Radford (#9) and Lane Olson (#12) look on as Braiden Doucette's point shot finds the back of the net during Saturday night's AJHL game against the Lloydminster Bobcats. The Eagles ended up losing the game 4-2. – Photo courtesy of Pam Doyle.
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Jan. 2 – Canmore at Okotoks – 7 PM
Sunday, Jan 3 – Okotoks at Canmore – 2 PM
The Canmore Eagles ended the 2015 portion of their Alberta Junior Hockey League schedule in disappointing fashion on Saturday night losing 4-2 to the under-manned Lloydminster Bobcats before 461 fans at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
With several of their key players missing due to injury or attending the World Junior A Hockey Challenge, the Bobcats came to Canmore with just 13 skaters in their lineup and gave the Eagles a golden opportunity to avenge an earlier 5-0 loss to the Bobcats back in Lloydminster in mid-October.
After jumping out to a 2-1 first period lead, the Eagles simply got outworked during the games final 40 minutes and allowed the Bobcats to score the game’s final three goals to steal the game.
“That’s a tough loss for our group to take,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “The game was there for the taking and we didn't grab it. Our guys need to learn how to win a game like that if we want to climb up in the standings. The Christmas break will be a good opportunity for our group to rest and refocus.”
Canmore received their goals from Kyle Pauls (9th) and Braiden Doucette (9th). Goaltender Ryan Bontorin took the loss and saw his record drop to 9-8-2.
The Eagles now enter the Christmas break with a record of 18-13-4 and 40 points, good enough for fourth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings.
Canmore trails the third-place Okotoks Oilers by two points, with the Eagles having played two less games.
The Oilers and Eagles will meet each other for a key two-game home and home series when the season resumes in the New Year.
Canmore will face the Oilers in Okotoks on Saturday, Jan. 2, before the series returns to Canmore on Sunday, January 3 with a special 2 PM start time.