If the Canmore Eagles are hoping to secure home ice advantage for the first round of the upcoming Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs, Tuesday’s night’s home game against the fourth-place Drumheller Dragons would have to be considered as a “must win”.
The fifth-place Eagles (21-23-5) currently trail the Dragons (24-22-4) by five points in the battle for fourth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings and the coveted home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
The two Southern Division rivals will face each other three more times before the regular season ends on March 1, with two of the three games slated for the Canmore Recreation Centre. Canmore also enjoys one game in hand on the Dragons.
The Eagles have enjoyed the upper hand on the Dragons this season defeating Drumheller three times by scores of 5-1, 5-2 and 3-1.
“It’s obviously a very big game for us if we want to catch them for that fourth-place spot in the standings,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, whose club is currently riding a seven game home-ice winning streak. “To some extent, we control our own destiny as we get to play them three more times, but we just have to take it one game at a time and concentrate on Tuesday’s game first.
“Drumheller is a very good hockey club and they’ll come in here looking for a little revenge and the opportunity to put a few more points between us in the standings. It’s a huge four point game for both clubs. We’d better be prepared and ready to play because they’ll be bringing it to us big time. It promises to be a very entertaining game for the fans.”
Game time at the Canmore Recreation Centre on Tuesday night is 7 PM.
NOTEBOOK: Canmore has just 11 games left in this year’s AJHL regular season – seven games at home and four on the road. . . Eagle rookie Alexander Bechtold has been suspended for the next two games as a result of being assessed a major penalty for checking from behind in a Feb. 2 game in Camrose. . .In their three games played against Drumheller this season, the Eagle’s powerplay has connected for eight goals in 24 opportunities.
