Eagles’ time at Centennial Cup runs out
The Canmore Eagles first trip to the national championship for junior A hockey came to end on Friday (May 15).
Canmore was eliminated by the Toronto Patriots 7-3 in the quarterfinal round of the Centennial Cup in Summerside, P.E.I.
“It’s hard to put it into perspective. It certainly disappointing,” said Eagles GM/Head Coach Andrew Milne, adding it will take some time before both players and coaching staff can reflect on the journey.
The Ontario Junior Hockey League champions scored five third-period goal to overcome a 3-2 deficit and put themselves into a semifinal against the Niverville Nighthawks on Saturday (1 p.m. MT, CNLive.ca).
The Alberta Junior Hockey League champions were considered outsiders when the tournament started but received wide praise during their opening three pool games, winning all three, including knocking off the Canadian Junior A Hockey League’s No. 1-ranked and Central Canada Hockey League champions Rockland Nationals 3-2 in overtime in its opening game.
Canmore would then go on to defeat the Superior International Junior Hockey League’s Thunder Bay North Stars 3-2 and the host Summerside Western Capitals 5-1 before a 6-4 loss to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions and No. 2-ranked Niverville Nighthawks, who finished with four wins, meant second place in Pool A and a quarterfinal matchup with Toronto, who went two wins and two losses in Pool B.
A quiet first period was woken up by a penalty to Toronto with less than two minutes to play.
Hudson Landmark scored the opening goal off a feed from Cohen Daoust. Unmolested in the slot area, Landmark took his time to pick a target and fired the puck over the catching mitt of goaltender Nico Armellin for a power-play goal at 18:32. Aidan Tkachuk also picked up an assist for wrapping the puck around the boards to Daoust from behind the goal.
Forced into taking the game to the Eagles, the Patriots did push back the final 88 seconds but left the first period trailing 1-0. The shots on goal were 8-6 for the Patriots.
Toronto resumed its attack at the start of the second period. Scheiwiller denied Patriots’ top sniper Cole Cooksey with a glove-hand knockdown in the opening moments.
It was beginning of an onslaught by the Patriots that eventually led to a turnover inside Canmore’s zone with the puck eventually landing on Cooksey’s stick and he quickly shot it into the open right side of the net for his seventh goal of the Centennial Cup, tying the game at 4:44.
Tate Collins gave Toronto the lead at 5:50, sailing unchecked down the left side, collecting a pass from Tommy Kamiris and sending it low far side just past a stretched out Scheiwiller.
A second power play would rescue Canmore when Tkachuk tipped a Daoust wrist shot from the point past the glove of Armellin at 10:39 to tie the game.
Will Lutic’s solo effort put Canmore back into the lead at 13:19. The shifty Eagles forward kicked the puck away from a defender after having his stick tied up, circled the goal only to be denied by Armellin’s right pad, pounced on the rebound and continued his left to right movement going a full 360 degrees, held the puck until all three defenders were stretched out on the ice, then calmly slid the biscuit into the open goal.
Canmore would take a 3-2 lead to the second break, with each team taking 19 shots in the frame, and would start the third period on the power play after a late penalty – the third to Toronto.
The Eagles were unable to score on the power-play chance and Toronto would push again.
Cooksey’s second of the game, and eighth of the tournament, at 2:43 came when he cruised unopposed to the front of the Canmore goal and received a pass from Lucas Vacca from below the goal line, making no mistake with his quick one-timer into the left side of the goal.
Toronto would be awarded its first power play with six minutes gone in the period. The Patriots would make it count. Karimis in front of goal redirected Luciano Bruno’s pass into the right side at 6:31 giving the Patriots their second lead of the game.
Another Canmore penalty gave the Patriots the opportunity to stretch their advantage, and they did just that with Bruno firing a long shot that eluded Scheiwiller at 8:47.
Toronto then scored its fourth goal of the period when Hudson Cummins’s slot shot eluded the Canmore goaltender, sailing in over his right shoulder at 10:18.
The Eagles didn’t give up but the goals would not come over the final half of the period.
Kyle Morey then ensured there would be no coming back when he beat Scheiwiller, who was already creeping towards the bench for an extra attacker, to a loose puck and deposited it into the open goal at 18:05.
The final shots were 40-32 for Toronto. On the power play, Canmore went 2-for-3 and Toronto was 2-for-2.
Leding scorers in the tournament for Canmore were Daoust with three goals and six assists for nine points (3G-6A) and Lutic with two goals and six assists for eight points. John Szabo scored the most goals with four to go with three assists for seven points.
Playing their final junior A games on Friday as they graduate out of Under-21 hockey were goaltender Scheiwiller, defencemen Reid Larson, Haruki Morikawa, forwards Tavynn Hamilton and Szabo. Defenceman and captain Casey Black, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in January, also graduates from junior hockey.
 The late game on Friday is an all-Maritime Junior Hockey League matchup with the league champion Truro Bearcats taking on host Summerside Western Capitals. The winner will take on College Francais de Longueuil, the Quebec Junior Hockey League champions and Pool B winners on Saturday, 4:30 p.m. MT.
The Centennial Cup championship game will be played on Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. MT.
OVERTIME: All games are streamed as pay-per-view on HNLive.ca, with Sunday’s championship game also available on TSN+. … Eagles’ rookie forward Easton Milne picked up another AJHL accolade on Friday being named to the South Division All-Academic team.
Schedule
(All times MT)
Saturday, May 16: Semifinals: Truro or Summerside vs Niverville, 1 p.m.; Toronto vs CF de Longueuil, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday: May 17: Championship Game, 4 p.m.
Final Standings
(RW-OTW-OTL-RL—Pts)
Pool A: 1. x-Niverville (3-1-0-0—11), 2. y-Canmore (2-1-0-1—8), y-3. Summerside (2-0-1-1—7), 4. Rockland (1-0-1-2—4), 5. Thunder Bay (0-0-0-4—0).
Pool B: x-1. CF de Longueuil (3-0-0-1—9), y-2. Truro (2-0-0-2—6), y-3. Toronto (2-0-0-2—6), 4. Flin Flon (2-0-0-2—6), 5. Greater Sudbury (1-0-0-3—3).
x-semifinal place
y-quarterfinal place
Results
May 15 Quarterfinals: Toronto 7 Canmore 3; Truro vs Summerside
May 13: CF de Longueuil 7 Toronto 4; Rockland 6 Niverville 7; Truro1 Flin Flon 3
May 12: Greater Sudbury 1 CF de Longueuil 3; Niverville 6 Canmore 4; Thunder Bay 3 Summerside 4
May 11:  Flin Flon 6 Greater Sudbury 4; Rockland 8 Thunder Bay 2; Toronto 1 Truro 6
May 10: Truro 2 CF de Longueuil 1; Summerside 1 Canmore 5
May 9: Thunder Bay 2 Niverville 7; Flin Flon 2 Toronto 7; Summerside 4 Rockland 2
May 8: Flin Flon 0 CF de Longueuil 1; Canmore 3 Thunder Bay 2; Greater Sudbury 4 Truro 1
May 7: Greater Sudbury 3 Toronto 8; Rockland 2 Canmore 3 (OT); Niverville 5 Summerside 4 (OT)
Story by Russ Ullyot