NEXT GAME: Drumheller Dragons at Canmore – Saturday, Sept. 19 – 7 PM
The Canmore Eagles picked up their first regular season victory of the young 2015-16 Alberta Junior Hockey League season on Thursday night as they defeated the home town Calgary Mustangs 3-2 at the Max Bell Centre.
After two lop-sided losses to the Brooks Bandits to open the season last weekend, the Eagles now sport an overall record of 1-2, while the Mustangs fall to 1-1.
Canmore received goals from Adam Tisdale, Brett Radford and Braden Saretsky, while newly acquired 17-year-old goaltender Ryan Gilchrist stopped 29 of 31 Mustang shots to pick up his first ever AJHL victory.
Gilchrist, a late cut of the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, was also named as the Eagles “Star of the Game”. Canmore outshot the Mustangs by a 36-31 margin.
“Tonight was a great goalie battle,” confirmed Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne afterwards. “Both guys made some big saves. We had a ton of good chances in the first period and their guy ((Ryan Ternes) kept them in it. In the third period, we ran into some penalty trouble and Gilchrist was awesome and gave us the opportunity to win. Overall our young guys were all really good tonight and it’s going to be exciting to watch them grow and develop throughout the season.”
Canmore will now play two straight games at home against Southern Division rivals with the Drumheller Dragons coming to the Canmore Recreation Centre on Saturday, Sept, 19 and the Okotoks Oilers scheduled for Tuesday, September 22. Both games will start at 7 PM.