Eagles into South final

Alex Scheiwiller gave a goaltender-of-the-year performance and Ryder Dembo had one goal and one assist as the Canmore Eagles punched their ticket into the next round of the Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs.

South No. 1 Canmore defeated the No. 4 Calgary Canucks 4-0 at Calgary’s Max Bell Centre on Sunday (March 29) to win the best-of-seven division semifinal series 4-2. The Eagles scored all their goals in the second period.

Bryson Insinger (3rd goal) opened the scoring at 2:31. While charging towards the net, Easton Milne’s shot deflected off the shaft of his stick and over the extended catching glove of Calgary goaltender Dimitri Fortin.

The Eagles then scored twice in a 39-second span beginning with Will Lutic (4) at 10:20. The leading scorer in this spring’s AJHL playoffs was joined by Milne on a two-on-one and chose to shoot from the right-wing face-off dot, putting the puck top side, far side of the Calgary goal. It was then Dembo’s turn to score, gifted the puck in the low slot after Owen Mastroianni picked the pocket of a Canuck defender trying to skate out from behind the goal. Dembo quickly fired low and hard past the goaltender for his first playoff goal.

Eagles’ defenceman Quinn Keeler scored his first goal of the playoffs at 14:04 when he grabbed the puck off the right-wing boards near the hash marks and flipped it towards the goal with the puck hitting inside the right pad of Fortin, redirecting it into the goal. Dembo was rewarded with an assist for his work on the end boards to break the puck out of a scrum and back to Keeler.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Canmore’s goaltender was showing why he given the AJHL goaltender of the year award with an unfazed performance, going on to stop all 29 shots he faced for his first shutout of the playoff season.

Canmore outshot Calgary 33-29, including 15-7 in the second period. Noah Nelson was in goal for the Canucks in the third period. Calgary had just 12 shots through two periods but fired 17 shots at Scheiwiller in the third period in a desperate bid to keep its season alive.

Just three minor penalties were called in this game with two going to Calgary.

The loss ends Calgarys’ two-year AJHL championship reign, which included winning the Centennial Cup – the national junior A championship – last year.

Lutic’s goal gives the Canmore forward nine points (4G-5A) in the playoffs. He and his linemates Insinger (3G-4A) and Milne (2G-4A) accounted for nine of Canmore’s 21 goals in the series.

Scheiwiller finished with a 4-1 record, 2.94 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. The Mount Royal University-Bound goaltender had a Game 4 performance he quickly put behind him – pulled at 5:42 of the first period after giving up four goals on seven shots. The Calgary native followed it up by allowing just two goals over the next two games, stopping 49 of 51 shots, as the Eagles won the final two games played in this series.

Canmore’s South Division final opponent will be decided on Tuesday, March 31, after the Drumheller Dragons staged a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Camrose Kodiaks on Sunday night. The Dragons scored four answered goals to rally from a 3-0 deficit to force a Game 7 with a 4-3 victory. Jase Johnstone scored his fifth goal of the series with 42 seconds left in regulation time to give the Dragons the victory.

Whichever team emerges from that series will be in Canmore next weekend as Games 1 & 2 will be played Friday and Saturday (April 3-4) at the Canmore Recreation Centre. Game times are 7 p.m.

The North Division final will feature No. 1 Whitecourt Wolverines against the No. 2 Grande Prairie Storm, also beginning Friday. The two teams met in last year’s North final with the lower-seeded Storm sweeping the best-of-seven series.

Game 1 – Calgary 5 at Canmore 2

Game 2 – Calgary 2 at Canmore 3

Game 3 – Canmore 5 at Calgary 2

Game 4 – Canmore 5 at Calgary 7

Game 5 – Calgary 2 at Canmore 3

Game 6 – Canmore 4 at Calgary 0

(Canmore wins 4-2)

All games are available for viewing through a Flohockey subscription available online at flohockey.tv or through your Prime Video account.