PHOTO : Jordan Revie fires home the tying goal with just over six minutes remaining in the third period as the Canmore Eagles rallied for a 5-4 OT victory over the Calgary Mustangs on Monday night – photo courtesy of Mark Neustaedter.
NEXT HOME GAMES – Camrose Kodiaks – Fri. Oct. 31 and Sat. Nov. 1- Both games start at 7 PM.
Kurt Hildebrand scored at 2:13 of overtime to give the Canmore Eagles a 5-4 OT victory over the Calgary Mustangs in Alberta Junior Hockey League action on Monday night at the Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.
The victory, before 206 spectators, snapped a two-game losing streak and improved the Eagles regular season record to 9-9. Canmore now has 18 points and currently sit in sixth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings.
The Eagles, who outshot the Mustangs 38-32, received goals from five different players as Connor Wilson (6th), Simon Philp (7th), Kevin Wolf (1st), Jordan Revie (9th) and Hildebrand (4th) all scored for Canmore.
Canmore goaltender Ryan Ferguson picked up the victory to improve his record to 7-8.
“It certainly wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win,” said a relieved Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “We’ve been struggling a little bit lately, so it’s nice to finally put two points up in the standings. It was a sloppy game overall and we certainly didn’t play the way we wanted to. We ended up playing a run and gun style of game, and that’s not the way our club needs to play to be successful.”
The Eagles will now spend the next few days preparing for a two game home series against the first-place Camrose Kodiaks (13-2-2) who will come to the Canmore Recreation Centre for games on Friday (Oct. 31) and Saturday (Nov. 1).
The Kodiaks, led by goaltender Devin McDonald, have allowed just 34 goals in their 17 games played to date. Camrose is also red-hot while playing on the road as their away record is 8-0-1. McDonald has been outstanding in the Kodiak nets this season posting an 11-1-1 record, a goals against average of just 1.68, and a save percentage of .942.
“We haven’t played the Kodiaks yet this season but we better be prepared for a very tough weekend where goals will be at a premium,” said Milne. “It’s no secret that we have been struggling to find the back of the net offensively and the Kodiaks are the best defensive team in the league, so we will certainly have our work cut out for us. It should be an entertaining weekend at the Recreation Centre.”
NOTEBOOK: Eagle rookie goaltender Levi Nelson, who was carted off the ice on a stretcher on Saturday night, is doing OK and did not suffer any broken bones in his goal-mouth collision with defenceman Kevin Wolf. It is unknown how long he will be out of action. The Eagles called up 16-year-old Calgary native Adam Marcoux to serve as Ferguson’s back-up last night. . . Eagle defenceman Jakob Lavoie sat out his second straight game after sustaining a serious ankle injury on Friday night in Okotoks. Lavoie will undergo an MRI this week to determine how long he will be out of the lineup.