Eagle Captain Connor Wilson had a goal and three assits last night but the Brooks Bandits still managed a 7-5 win in Brooks.
UPCOMING HOME GAMES
Lloydminster Bobcats at Canmore – Friday, Jan. 16 – 7 PM
Calgary Mustangs at Canmore – Saturday, Jan. 17 – 7 PM
Despite a four-point performance from captain Connor Wilson, the Canmore Eagles suffered a 7-5 defeat to the Brooks Bandits in Alberta Junior Hockey League action in Brooks on Wednesday night.
The Bandits (32-10-1) raced out to a 3-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old and held on for the victory. To their credit, the Eagles battled back to make the score 6-5 midway through the third period before the Bandits capitalized on the powerplay with six minutes left in the third period to put the game away.
With the loss, Canmore’s record falls to 20-22-1.
Canmore rookie netminder Levi Nelson, fresh off a shutout of the Calgary Mustangs on Sunday, started the game for the Eagles but allowed three goals on eight shots and was pulled at the 9:05 mark of the first period. Ryan Ferguson replaced Nelson and stopped 23 of the 27 shots he faced. The Eagles were outshot 37-24.
Simon Philp had a pair of goals for the Eagles (13 & 14), while Wilson (19), Matt Forchuk (7), and Joe Serpico (12) rounded out the scoring. Wilson also chipped in with three assists and defenceman Nikolas Kosman recorded two assists.
“We shot ourselves in the foot tonight,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, whose club was missing the services of defenceman Griffin Mumby (flu), Jeremy Gordon (flu) and forward Jordan Revie (injury). “You can’t give a good team like Brooks easy goals. They didn’t have to work nearly hard enough to score some of their goals. We made some mistakes and they took advantage of them – simple as that. Despite allowing some soft goals, we had some real warriors going for us tonight and we never gave up. ”
The Eagles will now return to Canmore for a pair of critical home games this weekend with the Lloydminster Bobcats (25-14-5) in town on Friday night and the Calgary Mustangs (12-29-3) on Saturday night. Both games will start at 7 PM.
NOTEBOOK: Friday’s night’s home game against the Bobcats will feature “CHEAP BEER” night as all Molson draft will be priced at $3. . . .Lloydminster will be hosting the RBC National Junior A championship next year and are currently prepping their roster for a big run next season. The Bobcats currently have just one 20-year-old on their roster – goalie Devin Green. . . . The Bobcats sit in second-place in the AJHL Northern Division standings despite the fact that their top point producer Brett Everson has just 25 points – good enough for 59th-place in the AJHL scoring Parade. The Eagles have five players with 30 points or more – Connor Wilson (49), Ryley Risling (36), Joe Serpico (35), Jordan Revie (34) and Simon Philp (32).