The Canmore Eagles were back in action last night after enjoying a 1-week Christmas break. The Eagles entered last night’s contest against the top-seeded Brooks Bandits, on a 3-game winning streak and having scored 21 goals in those 3 games.
The Eagles’ high powered offence certainly carried on from where it left off before the Christmas break, but unlike in their previous 3 games, it was the visitors who put more pucks in the net, as the Eagles fell 9-5 to the Brooks Bandits in front of 742 fans at the Canmore Recreation Centre. It was the largest crowd at an Eagles’ home game this season.
With the loss, the Eagles remain in 6th Place in the tight AJHL South division with a record of 19-13-3 for 41 points. The Eagles are 1 point back of the Calgary Mustangs for 5th Place and 2 points back of the Camrose Kodiaks for 4th. The Eagles have games in hand of the teams they are chasing.
Despite what the scoreboard says, Eagles’ Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne was happy with his team’s performance stating, “I thought we played one of our best games of the season. Most of our guys were at the top of their game. I thought we outchanced them in the 1st period, but we found ourselves down 5-2. We gave them too many easy goals. Our goalies let in a few goals they wished they could have back.”
It was Thomas Davis who got the nod between the pipes. The 20-year old netminder from St.Albert, AB was pulled at the start of the 2nd period for Logan Dyck, after allowing 5 goals on 15 shots. Dyck played the rest of the game and he stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced.
The Eagles goals scorers were Alex Young (19th), Finn Whithey (his 1st career AJHL goal), Tian Rask (12th), Quinton Ong (13th) and Owen Reith (8th). Young, Ong and Connor Lyons each had 2 points.
The Eagles and the Bandits meet again tonight, but this time at Centennial Regional Arena in Brooks for the back end of the home-and-home series. It will be the Eagles’ last game of the 2018 calendar year. Finishing the year with a win will be a tall order for the Eagles, as the Bandits are undefeated when playing in front of their home fans this season with a perfect record of 16-0. Game time is 7 pm.
“We need to play the same way as we did last night, but we will need our goalie to make some saves,” said Milne.
EAGLES’ FUN FACTS:
– Eagles’ Forward Alex Young is having a great month of December. The 17 year-old from Calgary has 15 points and he is on a 7-game point streak. Young is now the Eagles’ leading scorer with 41 points in 34 games, 1 point better than his older brother Colton and he is 10th in the AJHL scoring race.
– After playing 10 of their last 13 games at the Canmore Recreation Centre, the Eagles now head on the road to play their next 5 games. The Eagles’ next home game and 1st home game of 2019 will be on Sunday, January 13 as they will host the Calgary Canucks for an afternoon game at 2:30 pm.
Photo from Pam Doyle Photography
