PHOTO: Eagle coach Andrew Milne will be looking for a better effort from his club this weekend as they wrap up the 2014 portion of their schedule with two home games. – Julie Wilson photo
UPCOMING HOME GAMES:
Friday, Dec. 19 – Calgary Mustangs
Saturady, Dec. 20 – Grande Prairie Storm
The Canmore Eagles will attempt to upgrade their Alberta Junior Hockey League record to the .500 mark when they host a pair of home games this Friday and Saturday night at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
The Eagles, with a record 16-18-1, will face the Calgary Mustangs (8-26-3) on Friday and then wrap up their 2014 portion of their schedule against the Grande Prairie Storm (13-22-2) on Saturday night.
In their two previous games against the Mustangs this season, the Eagles registered a 5-4 victory on Oct. 27 and a 10-5 win on Nov. 25. Both games were played in Calgary.
In their only encounter with the Grande Prairie Storm this season, the Eagles came out on the short end of a 4-3 loss in Grande Prairie on Dec. 6.
“Overall, I don’t think anyone in our dressing room should be happy with our record to date,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, whose team is also a disappointing 8-8 on home ice. “These upcoming two home games are very important for us as we need to head into the Christmas break with some positive momentum. We have a great opportunity to get our record back to the .500 level and start feeling good about ourselves again.”
As has been the case for their past five games, the Eagles will be without the services of four key players this weekend as leading scorer Ryley Risling and defenceman Griffin Mumby will still be away with Hockey Canada – Team Canada West functions, while defenceman Nikolas Kosman and Jakob Lavoie are still out with injuries.
“We expect to have all four of these players back in our lineup when we reconvene in the New Year, so this represents the last opportunity for a few of our current players to show us that they deserve to stay in our lineup,” said Milne, in reference to the fact that the final CJHL trade deadline is set for Jan. 10, 2015. “These two games will go a long way in determining how our roster is going to look as we prepare for the final stretch drive. We have a few players who certainly need to step it up a notch and this would be a good weekend for them to do so.”
Both games will start at 7 PM.
NOTEBOOK: Friday's game is RBC Night so make sure you bring your RBC Client Card with you to be eligible to win some great swag . . . Saturday night is Lake Louise Ski Resort night and two lucky fans will win free Lake Louise Plus Ski Cards.