After a rough outing in Camrose on Sunday afternoon, the Canmore Eagles were back on home ice to start off a 3-game home stand and they delivered a great bounce-back performance in front of 415 fans at the Canmore Recreation Centre as they knocked off the visiting Olds Grizzlys 6-0. The Shutout is the Eagles’ first of the season and the win allows the team to regain sole possession of 4th Place in the AJHL South division, thanks to Camrose’s loss to Bonnyville. The Eagles (13-9-2) remain 3 points back of Drumheller for 2nd Place and 2 points back of Okotoks, as both teams won their respective matchup.
The Eagles dominated the game right from the opening puck drop. The team took a 3-0 lead only 8 minutes into the 1st period. After a scoreless 2nd period, the Eagles scored 3 more goals in the final frame to seal the win. The Eagles outshot the Grizzlys 47-19. Eagles’ 20-year-old netminder Thomas Davis stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his 3rd career AJHL Shutout.
“Thomas did his job, which is to stop pucks,” said Eagles’ Assistant Coach/Assistant General Manager Evan McFeeters. “When we make mistakes, he’s supposed to be there to bail us out. We want to limit those mistakes and not make his life difficult. He only had to bail us out 4 or 5 times tonight, he did his job. As a group, it was a bounce-back game, a momentum-changing game for us. After our game in Camrose, we obviously weren’t happy with it, so tonight it was a huge opportunity for us to send the message in the dressing room that we know how to win and win properly.”
The Eagles had a well-balanced attack in tonight’s win, as 14 players made it onto the scoresheet and the Eagles scored goals from all 4 Forward lines. Taden Rattie (10), Max Giangualano (15), Zach Carlson (2), Colton Young (13), Connor Lyons (10) and Daly Hamilton (5) were the goal scorers. Giangualano, Quinton Ong and Alex Young each had 2 points. They were the only 3 players to hit the scoresheet more than once.
Alex Young who is currently on a 4-game point streak was asked after the game about playing on a separate line from his older Colton for the last few weeks. “I kind of missed his game, he helps me out a lot. But I think it’s making me take on a bigger role and not having him help me has forced me to do a little more and take control of my own line and I think it has helped my development,” said Young.
The month of November has certainly been a fantastic one for Young as early this month, him and brother Colton both committed to an NCAA scholarship at Colgate University and last week it was announced that he was added to the NHL Central Scouting to Watch list for the upcoming NHL draft in June.
When asking Young about being on the list he said, “It’s exciting and great to be recognized. There’s a ton of people that helped me along the way to get me to this spot and it just means that I have to work even harder. I want to go past that and move up higher on the watch list.”
The NHL draft will be held in Vancouver on June 21 & 22 2019.
Next up for the Eagles are a pair of home games versus North division opponents. The Eagles will host the Grande Prairie Storm (13-11-2) on Friday night and the Whitecourt Wolverines (11-13-1) on Saturday night. Puck drop for both games is 7 pm.
“We need to be up to snub, we need to have that energy and that preparation through the week,” said Coach McFeeters regarding both matchups this weekend.
Two weekends ago, the Eagles went to Grande Prairie and Whitecourt as part of a 3-game Northern road trip and the Eagles won against both of those teams. Look for Grande Prairie and Whitecourt to come out with some vengeance on their mind.
EAGLES FUN FACTS:
– After a tough start to the month of November going 0-3, the Eagles have been victorious in 4 of their last 6 contests.