PHOTO: Lane Olson had the overtime winner last night as the Canmore Eagles rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Calgary Mustangs. – (photo courtesy of Julie Wilson)
The Canmore Eagles rallied for two goals late in the third period to tie the game and Lane Olson scored the game winner at 3:34 of sudden-death overtime to lead the Canmore Eagles to a 5-4 comeback victory over the Calgary Mustangs in Alberta junior Hockey League action on Wednesday night in Calgary.
Down 4-2 with just over eight minutes left to play in the third period, the Eagles tied the game on goals by Jake Ashton (3rd) and Brett Radford (6th), before Olson scored his eighth goal of the season to claim the victory. Matt Forchuk (9th), the AJHL’s leading scorer, and Coy Prevost (5th) also had goals for the Eagles.
Canmore goaltender Ryan Gilchrist stopped 25 or 29 shots to post the victory and improve his record to 5-2 as the Eagles outshot the Mustangs by a 39-29 margin. It was the third straight victory over the Mustangs this season, all by one goal margins.
With the victory, the Eagles improve their early season record to 8-4-1 and move into second-place in the AJHL’s Southern Division standings with 17 points.
“We were looking for some secondary scoring from our lineup and tonight they came through for us,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “The line of Forchuk, Olson and Ferguson has been carrying the load for us this season, but tonight we got some timely goals from Prevost, Ashton and Radford and it made the difference for us. Good teams find a way to win and we did that tonight. It was a great team victory and certainly gives us some added confidence that when we get down, we have the ability to battle back.”
The Eagles will now enter the most difficult portion of their 2015-16 schedule with eight of their next 11 games on the road starting this weekend with road games in Bonnyville on Friday, Oct. 16 against the 9-5-1 Pontiacs, and Saturday Oct. 17 against the Lloydminster Bobcats (11-2). The Eagles will then face the Brooks Bandits in a home and home series on the Oct. 23-24 weekend.
“We’ve been on a pretty good roll lately so this is as good a time as any to take the show on the road,” said Milne, whose club has claimed nine out of a possible 10 points in the standings during their past five games. “ Playing in Bonnyville and Llodminster is never easy at the best of times, but both of those clubs are playing exceptional hockey right now. We’ll just play it one game at a time and see how it all shakes out. “
NOTEBOOK: With two assists last night, Logan Ferguson was named the Eagles “Star of the Game”. The second-year forward now has five goals and 10 assists in 13 games played . . .With nine goals and 12 assists, Matt Forchuk now sits alone in first-place in the AJHL’s scoring parade. He also has a five game goal scoring streak intact. . . .Linemate Lane Olson, with eight goals and 12 assists, is in second-place in the AJHL scoring parade. Olson also has gone nine games with registering at least a single point.
