Eagles ring in new year with a win

Photo Credit Sei Spo Press

Eagles ring in new year with a win

A pair of goals by Vincent Scott helped the Canmore Eagles celebrate the first day of 2023 with an emphatic 6-1 victory over the Calgary Canucks.

The Alberta Junior Hockey League matinee at the Canmore Recreation Centre saw the Eagles take a 1-0 in the first period on Reed Jacobson’s fifth goal of the season.

Then just 16 seconds into the second period Owen Jones scored his 12th of the season to extend the lead. It was followed in rapid succession by Riley Dekowny’s 14th goal, and first in eight games, and then Scott with his first goal of the game, a shorthanded effort, and the Eagles led 4-0 by 5:35 of the period.

Ty Hipkin would get Calgary on the board with just under two minutes left in the middle frame.

Scott would add his second of the game and team-leading 17th of the season at 11:22 of the third period. The Eagles captain might have finished the game with a hat trick had his backhander not been stopped on his first-period, penalty-shot attempt.

Kai Billey’s 4th of the season into an empty net wrapped up the scoring with three minutes remaining.

Jacobson would finish the game with one goal and two assists, while Jones had one goal and one assist, and fellow Eagle Kayden Rawji picked up a pair of helpers.

On the power play, Canmore was 0-for-4 while Calgary was 1-for-6.

Canmore outshot Calgary 35-33 with Andreai Proctor-Ramirez in goal for the Eagles and Max Prazma in goal for the Canucks.

Power play failure against Oilers

In the final game of the 2022 calendar year on Friday, Dec. 30, Canmore lost 4-2 to the Okotoks Oilers at the Canmore Recreation Centre before a record regular-season home crowd of 940 fans.

The Eagles were unable to rebound from a 3-0 deficit, although they gave it a good try in the late stages of the contest.

Okotoks took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Rylan Brown and Connor Gourlay.

After a scoreless middle frame, Sam Huck made it 3-0 for the visitors eight minutes into the third period.

Canmore rallied to within one goal with four minutes to play on a pair of Kayden Smith goals, which gave him 14 for the season. Scott assisted on both markers.

However, the Eagles were unable to find the equalizer while pulling the goalie for an extra attacker in the final two minutes. Nolan Flint sealed the two points for the Oilers with an empty net marker with five seconds remaining.

Okotoks outshot Canmore 45-34 with Proctor-Ramirez in goal for the Eagles and Parker Sawka in goal for the Oilers.

Making it a frustrating evening against the second-place team in the South Division was the Eagles’ inability to score with the man advantage going 1-for-12 on the power play, while the Oilers went 3-for-9.

With the weekend results, Canmore remains fifth in the South Division at 16-17-2-2, giving them a four-point cushion over the sixth-place Camrose Kodiaks (15-20-2-0) and Calgary (12-17-6-2).

Next up for Canmore is a trip to Camrose to take on the struggling Kodiaks on Thursday, Jan. 5. The Kodiaks are on an 12-game losing streak and have just a pair of victories in their last 19 games, free falling from second place in the division. The Kodiaks could find themselves embroiled in the hunt for a playoff spot over the final two months of the season with the eighth-place Olds Grizzlys (12-23-3-0) seemingly having righted the ship and just five points back of the Kodiaks and Canucks.

Canmore’s road trip moves North after Thursday’s divisional clash with games against the Bonnyville Pontiacs on Friday, Jan. 6 and Lloydminster Bobcats on Saturday, Jan. 7.