Thursday, August 30, 2012 – If the Canmore Eagles hope to start their 2012-2013 Alberta Junior Hockey League regular season off with a victory in their season opener on September 8, they’ll have to find a way to change their luck when it comes to playing hockey games on the Sportsplex ice surface in Olds.
After losing all three regular season road games in Olds last season, the Eagles suffered yet another setback to the home-town Grizzlys last night as they were shutout 2-0 in an exhibition game played in Olds. The two teams are set to open their 2012-2013 regular season schedules in Olds on Sept. 8.
Canmore will not have to wait long for a shot at redemption against the Grizzlys as the two teams will meet again on Friday night, August 31 at the Canmore Recreation Centre, where the Eagles won all of their three home games against Olds last season. Game time Friday night is 7 pm. Adult tickets will be reduced to just $10 for the exhibition game, while student, senior and children’s tickets will be just $5.
The Eagles started last night’s exhibition game very poorly and were outshot 19-2 in the first period. Despite the poor start, the Eagles were only down 1-0 on the scoreboard after the opening 20 minutes as newly acquired goaltender Ty Swabb was spectacular between the pipes and kept his team alive. The Eagles, many of whom were playing their sixth hockey game in six days, were outshot 35-20 on the night.
“We got off to a very slow start but Swabb was able to keep the game close with some fantastic saves”, said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, who went with seven veteran players in his lineup. “It took us a while to get our legs, but we re-grouped after the first period and played pretty well for the last 40 minutes.
“Nils Moser also played a great game for us and had a good character fight sticking up for one of his team-mates. Newcomer Dylan Houston also had another strong outing creating offence throughout most of game.”
With the loss, Canmore is now 0-1-1 in their two AJHL exhibition games to date. Following Friday night’s home date with the Grizzlys, the Eagles will travel to Calgary on Saturday Sept. 1 to wrap up their four-game exhibition season with a game against the Calgary Mustangs.
NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Conlan Rook played his first AJHL game last night for the Eagles and played well but will be returning to Midget AAA this year. “He showed great poise and reads the ice very well,” said Milne. “He has a great opportunity to play junior hockey one day.”
