Saturday, September 1, 2012 – An exhibition game by definition is “a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition. In professional sports, pre-season games also help teams decide which players to keep for the regular season.”
After dropping a penalty-filled 4-3 Alberta Junior Hockey League exhibition game to the Olds Grizzyls last night at the Canmore Recreation Centre, the Canmore Eagles now sport a disappointing 0-2-1 in their three exhibition games played to date.
“It was certainly a mixed bag for us last night,” said an ever optimistic Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “We were really good sometimes and really bad too. Except for getting the win, we accomplished what we needed to do. We are starting to see who can play at this level and who can’t. We had a few mistakes that cost us, but this is the time of the season for mistakes to happen. We have gotten better every game this year and I know we will be better tomorrow.”
For many Eagle players, last night’s game was their seventh game of hockey in eight days, including four full inter-squad games last weekend.
Braeden Music continued his fine pre-season with a pair of goals for the Eagles while Connor Hoekstra chipped in with the other goal. Ty Swabb played the first period for the Eagles allowing two goals on 14 shots, while James Fisk came in for the last two periods and looked solid. The Eagles were outshot 42-33 on the night.
The Eagles wrap up their four game exhibition season tonight with a game in Calgary against the Mustangs. In a pre-season game played in Canmore on August 28, the Mustangs defeated Canmore 5-4 in an overtime shoot-out.
The Eagles will then have a full week of practice and rest to prepare for their AJHL regular season opener, which will be played in Olds on Saturday, Sept. 8. The Eagles home opener is scheduled for Friday, September 14 against the Whitecourt Wolverines.
NOTEBOOK: Eagle’s forward Luke Simpson has had an excellent pre-season to date but wishes he could end his love affair with goal posts. The rugged Canmore native could have won the August 28 game against the Calgary Mustangs but his overtime shoot-out attempt nailed the cross-bar dead-on and deflected away. In last night’s game with the score tied 2-2 in the second period, Simpson clanked the puck off both goal posts. Shortly after, Simpson was ejected from the game for fighting Grizzly’s Chase Paylor. Simpson didn’t like the fact that Paylor looked to deliberately fire the puck into the Eagle player’s bench to get a whistle…Eagle supporter Shannon Pauls continues her fine fundraising activities as last night’s 50-50 draw saw Blaine Music, Braeden’s father, claim the $420 jackpot. . . Newly acquired centreman Zack Rassel is expected to make his pre-season debut for the Eagles in tonight’s game in Calgary. Rassell has been out of the lineup with a sore wrist.. . .Paul Lamoureux, Jeremy Margeson, Jeremy Gordon and Simon Philp are all injured and have yet to see any pre-season action.