Eagles take down Wolverines
The Canmore Eagles went one win and one loss last week, while a third game was cancelled.
While the dispute between the Alberta Junior Hockey League and its five breakaway clubs continues, the games go on although on two different paths. For Canmore, that was games Thursday (Jan. 25) at home to the Whitecourt Wolverines, a 3-2 win, and Saturday (Jan. 27) on the road against the Calgary Canucks, a 2-1 loss. The scheduled Tuesday (Jan. 23) game against the Okotoks Oilers was cancelled.
Announcements updating the issue between the Hockey Canada-affiliated AJHL and the unsanctioned B.C. Hockey League can be found on the AJHL website.
With another win and a loss added to its record, Canmore is now 21-25-1-1 and holds onto 10th place in the overall standings. Whitecourt and Calgary hold onto the fifth and sixth spots respectively in the standings.
Canmore finished January with four wins from 10 games.
Wolverines 2 at Eagles 3
A pair of goals 81 seconds apart in the second period propelled Canmore to the win at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
Evan Arnold gave the visitors a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the first period.
Canmore scored three goals in the second period. The first came from Cohen Daoust, his third of the season, at 6:05 to tie the contest at 1-1. The Wolverines would go back on top on a goal by Dylan Leslie before the Eagles rallied. Nathan MacPherson-Ridgewell tied the game at 13:16 with his 10th goal of the season, stealing the puck along the left-wing boards and firing the puck at goal, which was misplayed by Wolverines goaltender Ben Charette turning it into his goal. Owen Jones then scored his 12th goal and the game winner at 14:37, firing a shot from the high slot over the left shoulder of the Wolverines’ goaltender into the top corner.
Whitecourt outshot Canmore 31-28 with Matthew Malin in goal for the Eagles.
On the power play, Whitecourt was 1-for-6 and Canmore was 0-for-3.
The Wolverines had won each of the three previous meetings this season.
Eagles 1 at Canucks 2
This was the rubber match in a five-game set between these two teams, with home ice being the difference this season.
Following a scoreless first period, the teams exchanged second-period goals. Hipkin gave the Canucks the lead at 6:53. Bryson Insinger scored his third goal of the season at 14:02, shrugging off a checker while in the slot, he got his stick on a pass from below the goal line by Zach Coutu, sweeping the puck into the bottom left-side corner of the goal. Then with 22 seconds left in regulation time, Bowden Singleton deflected a left-wing shot by Hipkin over Malin’s left shoulder for the game winner.
With 2½ minutes to play, Canmore thought it had taken the lead when Rhett Dekowny pushed the loose puck under and past Calgary netminder Julian Molinaro, who had fumbled away a long shot by Nolan Kazeil, however, referee Tyler Jensen denied the goal as he was in the process of whistling the play dead despite the puck being loose in front of the prone goaltender.
Calgary outshot Canmore 27-23.
There were no power-play goals with Canmore having four chances and Calgary three opportunities.
Calgary won all three games played at the Max Bell Centre. The Eagles won both games played at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
Canmore heads out on the road for three games to begin the final month of the regular season. The Eagles are in Bonnyville on Friday, Feb. 2, Lloydminster on Saturday, Feb. 3 and Camrose on Sunday, Feb. 4.