Photo Credit Shawn Cruikshank Captured Memories Photography
Eagles rally leads to shootout victory
A tough three-game weekend came to a satisfying conclusion for Canmore on Sunday afternoon in Sherwood Park.
Kayden Rawji and Owen Jones would each score and goaltender Andreai Proctor-Ramirez stopped two of three shots he faced as the Eagles defeated the Crusaders 5-4 to wind up their Alberta Junior Hockey League road trip.
Canmore trailed 4-2 after two periods but rallied back on goals by Reed Jacobson (11) and Logan Ziegler’s first goal to force the overtime and subsequent shootout.
Sherwood Park led 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Noah Wills and outscored Canmore 3-2 in the second period. Brendan Kuny scored twice for the Crusaders with Carmelo Crandell getting the other goal. The Eagles goals came from Owen Jones (17) and Vincent Scott (24).
Sherwood Park outshot Canmore 36-30 with Erick Roest in goal for the Crusaders.
On the power play, Canmore was 0-for-6 while Sherwood Park was 3-for-5.
Bitten by Bulldogs
The road trip opened in Blackfalds on Friday against a possible first-round playoff opponent.
Canmore led 1-0 after one period on a goal by Jacobson (10).
Blackfalds would score twice in the each of the second and third periods to pull out the win. David Brandes and Jack Plandowski scored in the second period. Kurt Gurkan and Jason Siedem, into and empty net, scored in the third period.
Blackfalds outshot Canmore 37-27 with Proctor-Ramirez returning to the goal after limping off the ice following his shutout performance in the Eagles’ previous game. Matthew Hennessey was in goal for the Bulldogs.
On the power play, Canmore was 0-for-1 and Blackfalds was 0-for-3.
Blanked by Saints
Canmore headed to Spruce Grove on Saturday and despite firing 47 shots on goal were unable to beat Saints goaltender Zack Onyskiw, who recorded his third shutout of the season.
In a wildly entertaining game, Eagle netminder Matthew Malin made 37 saves but two goals in the final five minutes of this contest would give the Saints a 2-0 win.
It was scoreless until 15:38 of the third period when Luigi Benincasa scored, followed by Isaac Abbott on the power play at 17:03.
On the power play, Canmore was 0-for-5 while Spruce Grove was 1-for-2.
With the weekend results, Canmore (21-27-2-2) remains in sixth place in the South Division with 46 points. With eight games remaining, the Eagles are four points back of fifth-place Camrose Kodiaks (24-26-2-0) and five points up on the Calgary Canucks (16-27-6-3).
There is no respite for Canmore this week as the lineup of tough games continues with the Whitecourt Wolverines (33-14-3-1, second in the North) on Wednesday (Feb. 15) in Banff, 7 p.m. at the Fenlands Recreation Centre, followed by Blackfalds (31-18-1-2, third in the South) on Friday (Feb. 17), 7 p.m. at the Canmore Recreation Centre.