Eagles left out in the cold

A winter storm blew through most of Canada on Wednesday (Dec. 17) and the chilling effects were felt inside the Canmore Recreation Centre where the Canmore Eagles were frozen out of the win column by the visiting Fort McMurray Oil Barons 5-3.

Canmore were unable to make up ground on the three teams in front of them in the Alberta Junior Hockey League South Division. Instead, the Eagles (13-13-1-4) remain in fourth place on 27 points, two points back of the Drumheller Dragons (12-13-1-4), four points back of the Calgary Canucks (15-11-1-0) and five back of division-leading Camrose Kodiaks (15-12-2-0), who were all idle on Wednesday.

The loss is part of a two-game run that has seen Canmore give up three goals in the second period and unable to rally back, although in both games the Eagles did close within one goal in their attempt.

Cade Petersen (5th goal of the season) put Fort McMurray – who came into the game following a 2-1 win in Calgary the previous night – in front at 8:24 of the first period.

Will Lutic (7), freshly returned from the Junior A World Challenge along with teammate Hudson Landmark , tied the contest at 1-1 at 18:19 of the opening period, collecting a rebound off the left-wing post and stuffing it between the pads of Fort McMurray goaltender Brendan Gee. The Oil Barons netminder began his AJHL career with a 25-save shutout performance against the Eagles in Canmore on Nov. 7.

Grande Prairie then made the most of several uncharacteristic Canmore mistakes in the second period to score three times in the opening 7:11 of the period. Goals came from Evan Benoit (7), Lucas McDonald (6) and Dustin Good (4).

Ryan Arnold would assist on Good’s power-play goal to extend his points streak to 18 games (12G-17A).

Canmore would reply in the final minute of the period with Bryson Insinger scoring his sixth goal in as many games – the longest active goal scoring streak in the league. He is also on a seven-game points streak (6G-2A).

John Szabo (13) would score a power-play goal for Canmore at 9:09 of the third period. His explosive bottle rocket shot from the right point might just go down in hockey lore as the hardest shot ever witnessed at the Canmore Recreation Centre stunning the 541 weather-defying fans with its velocity and accuracy.

Unfortunately, the three second period goals, just as in the Eagles previous game – a 4-2 loss to the Deveon Xtreme on Saturday (Dec. 13) – would prove too much to overcome. The Oil Barons, much like the Xtreme, would finish the game off with an empty net goal. Good (5) scoring his second of the game with four seconds remaining.

Fort McMurray (16-9-4-1, second in the North) outshot Canmore 34-33 with Alex Scheiwiller (9-9/3.12/.912) in goal of the Eagles. Gee (8-5/2.56/.925) extended his personal winning streak to five games.

On the power play, Canmore finished 1-for-6 while Fort McMurray went 1-for-3.

Canmore has two more home games this week. On Friday, Dec. 19, the Grande Prairie Storm (17-10-0-1, third in the North) roll into Canmore Recreation Centre riding a nine-game winning streak followed by Drumheller on Saturday, Dec. 20. Game times are 7 p.m.

OVERTIME: Can’t get to a game in person, all AJHL games can be viewed with a flohockey.tv subscription. … The Canmore Eagles are always in need of more volunteers to help with game day experiences whether you are new to the game or an avid hockey supporter, email info@canmoreeagles.com for more information on opportunities and game-day perks that come with being part of the Game Day Crew.