Eagles slip to second

It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks for the Canmore Eagles with the team suffering three losses the past week and seeing its losing streak run to five games (four consecutive regulation time losses and an overtime defeat).

Canmore’s week included home-ice losses to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 3-0 on Tuesday (Nov. 5), 5-3 to Whitecourt Wolverines on Friday (Nov. 8) and in Calgary, 4-1 to the Canucks on Sunday (Nov. 10).

Canmore (11-6-2-0 for 24 points) saw its spot as first place of the Alberta Junior Hockey League South Division given over to the Camrose Kodiaks (11-5-1-2 for 25 points), who have won three in a row and have points in five of their last six games. The Canucks (11-6-1-1) are also on 24 points.

Fort McMurray used a pair of power play goals and solid goaltending by Vincent Filion to skate away with the two points.

The visitors got first-period goals from Charles-Olivier Villeneuve (4th of the season) and Dustin Good (3). Danny Akkouche (7) would score in the second period.

Fort McMurray outshot Canmore 32-24 with Alex Scheiwiller in goal for the Eagles.

The Oil Barons were 2-for-3 on the power play while the Eagles were unable to score on any of their nine chances.

Canmore jumped out to 2-0 lead in the first period, needed to rally back in the third period, and it all came undone in the final couple of minutes.

In the first period, Aidan Tkachuk (2) and Ethan Look (6) scored power-play goals.

In the second period, the Wolverines took the lead on two goals by Dylan Ruptash (14), with his first coming on a penalty shot, and Jalen Bianchet (6).

In the third period, Kayden Rawji (6) would tie the game 3:04. A late power play for Whitecourt led to the game-winning goal by Dwayne Jean Jr. (5) at 17:42. The Wolverines ensured the win with an empty net goal from Travis Verbeek.

Whitecourt outshot Canmore 31-23 with Scheiwiller in goal for the Eagles and Zac Onyskiw in goal for the Wolverines.

Special teams were the difference in this game as Calgary scored three power-play goals on seven chances while Canmore was 0-for-3.

Alex Trischuk (2) scored the only goal of the first period.

Calgary then opened up a 3-0 lead in the second period on power-play goals by Nolan DuPont (7) and Hayden Fechner (7)

Tavynn Schlatt (2) got one on the board for Canmore midway of third period. Matthew Paszkiewicz (3) would finish out the scoring on another Canucks power play.

Calgary outshot Canmore 34-30 with Hudson Sedo in goal for the Eagles and Cruz Chase in goal for the Canucks.

Canmore was 2-for-17 on the power play over the three games and is now operating at 17.1% (13-for-76), ninth overall in the AJHL, while the penalty kill was 10-for-16 and is fifth best in the league at 83.1% (69-for-83).

Canmore have been without Owen Jones (suspension), Jaren Brinson (ankle) and Cole Wadsworth (shoulder) during this losing streak. Jones has one more game to serve for his gross misconduct received on Nov. 2 against the Bonnyville Pontiacs (that was the 3-2 overtime loss), while Brinson and Wadsworth are some way off from returning to action.

Zach Coutu has just one assist in his last five games and has slipped to sixth in league scoring with 21 points (7G-14A).

Rhett Dekowny has just two assists in his last five games after having his eight-game points streak snapped. He has 14 points (5G-9A) for the season.

With one goal and one assist against Whitecourt, Kayden Rawji is now third in team scoring with 13 points (6G-7A).

Cohen Daoust had five goals and seven points in the Eagles first 10 games has been held to just a single assist over the last eight games and is on eight points (5G-3A) this season.

Josh Cleary has been held pointless in his last seven games and is stuck on seven points (3G-4A) in his 17 appearances.

Nolan Kazeil is still looking for his first regular season AJHL goal since Jan. 27, 2023 when he was a member of the Oil Barons. That was 94 games ago for the Edmonton native. Kazeil did score once, the opening game, of last spring’s playoffs. Also looking for their first regular season goals are forward Brayden Schwartz (9 games) and the injured Brinson (13 games).

Canmore’s next game is Saturday, Nov. 16 in Calgary (5 p.m. at the Max Bell Centre) followed by Camrose in Canmore for a doubleheader on Friday (Nov. 22) and Saturday (Nov. 23), both games are 7 p.m. start times at the Canmore Recreation Centre.

EAGLES NEST: Tickets for Canmore Eagles’ home games are available at canmoreeagles.ca/tickets. … You can watch all Eagles’ games as well as the rest of the AJHL online, along with much more live and on demand sports, through a FloSports subscription available at flohockey.tv.

Russ Ullyot