NEXT HOME GAME – TUESDAY, JANUARY 8 VERSUS CALGARY MUSTANGS
Sunday, January 6, 2013 – As the health of the Canmore Eagle’s roster slowly improves, so do the fortunes of the Alberta Junior Hockey League club.
Rookie forward Jordan Revie, who missed the Eagle’s previous eight games with a separated shoulder, returned to the Eagle’s lineup last night and scored the game winning goal with just six minutes left in the third period to propel the Eagles to an exciting 3-1 come from behind victory over the Olds Grizzlys in a game played before 481 fans at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
The Eagles offence came out firing on all cylinders as they outshot the Grizzlys 18-5 in the first period but Old’s netminder Jake Tamagi was outstanding as the first period ended scoreless.
After Grizzly’s forward Matthew Marcinew gave Olds a 1-0 lead midway through the second period, newly acquired Eagle forward Bryan Arneson scored his 10th goal of the season at 17:11 of the second period to at least give the Eagle’s some inspiration as they headed into the intermission break.
The Eagles continued to dominate play in the third period as they outshot the Grizzlys by a 15-7 margin, but it took Revie’s wrist shot from the slot to finally give the Eagles the lead and bring their loyal fans to their feet. Eagle defenceman Ciaron Driscoll iced the game with an outstanding end-to-end rush and classic goal with less than three minutes remaining.
The victory was the Eagle’s fourth straight and moves them into a sixth-place tie with Olds in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 33 points. Canmore is also just two points back of the fifth-place Calgary Mustangs. The Eagles enjoy six games in hand on Olds, and three games on the Mustangs.
Eagle netminder Cameron Barnes made several key saves when the game was on the line and was named the Eagle’s “Star of the Game”. Canmore outshot Olds by a 47-24 margin on the night.
“We played very well offensively, but you certainly have to give credit to their goaltender as he kept them in the game,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “It was great to see Revie score that goal in his first game back from injury and Cam Barnes made some big stops for us when we needed him to. Overall I think the guys are starting to get some of their confidence back and that has really helped us when the games are tight. We are finally getting healthy and that makes a huge difference.”
The Eagles will get their opportunity to catch the Calgary Mustangs for a share of fifth-place in the standings on Tuesday night Jan. 8 when they Mustangs travel to Canmore for a 7 pm start.
The two teams have met each other three times this season with the Mustangs winning all three games. The Mustangs won 2-1, and 3-2, in games played in Calgary and blasted the Eagles 8-2 in Canmore on December 8.
NOTEBOOK: Steven Phee, the Eagle’s leading scorer with 17 goals, missed his second straight game last night as the flu bug has hit him hard . . .Twenty-year goaltender Ty Swabb, who has been out of the lineup since suffering a high ankle sprain on October 27, has returned to Canmore and dressed as the back-up to Barnes last night. . .Injured defenceman Nikolas Kosman, who suffered a broken forearm on November 17, is back practicing with the Eagles and is close to returning to the lineup. . The Eagles have just 11 home games remaining this season.
PHOTO – #12 Jordon Revie – courtesy of Julie Wilson