It was a great night for the Canmore Sports teams! The Canmore Eagles picked up their 2nd straight win by a shutout as they defeated the North Division Grande Prairie Storm by a score of 3-0. Meanwhile, in Fort McMurray, the Canmore Wolverines High School Football team won the Provincial Championship as they defeated the St.Paul Lions 24-11 for their 1st Provincial Championship! The game was available on Youtube and it was shown on a TV screen in the bar section and a lot of fans got to enjoy both the Hockey game and the Football game.
The Eagles win allows Canmore to move up to 3rd Place in the AJHL South division with a record of (14-9-3). The Eagles received some help not once, but twice today and coming from the same team. Earlier today, the Okotoks Oilers had 2 points taken away from a game they had won vs the Calgary Canucks on November 20, due to an ineligible roster. Those 2 points lost for the Oilers put them in a tie for 3rd Place with the Eagles going into tonight’s contest. Then tonight, the Oilers lost their matchup to the Whitecourt Wolverines 4-2, to allow the Eagles to take sole possession of 3rd Place. The Drumheller Dragons who are in 2nd Place remain 3 points clear of the Eagles as they defeated the Olds Grizzlys 3-2.
It was 19-year-old netminder Logan Dyck who picked up the Shutout tonight with 26 saves for his 1st clean sheet of the season and the 2nd of his AJHL career. Thomas Davis got the Shutout 3 nights ago against the Olds Grizzlys.
When asked about the choice to put Dyck between the pipes Friday night Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne answered, “Logan beat the Storm in Grande Prairie 2 weeks ago, he was phenomenal there, it was a psychological decision by the coaching staff. Because he beat them up there, we thought we would give him that psychological advantage and I think the advantage we have on our team is 2 good goaltenders.”
Logan Dyck who had a rough game in his last start in Camrose last Sunday when he allowed 7 goals on 32 shots was feeling great about his performance tonight and gave lots of credits to his teammates. “The last game was really tough, we didn’t come out ready to work, I had a tough start and we didn’t carry the momentum,” said Logan Dyck. “But I thought we really bounced back well tonight. A lot of guys played well tonight, it wasn’t just me, there was a lot of blocked shots, which really helped and our Power Play was even better. An all-around great effort tonight.”
The Calgary native had his 1st career AJHL Shutout almost a year ago when he blanked the Camrose Kodiaks 2-0 on December 2 2017. In addition to his Shutout, Logan Dyck picked up an assist on the Eagles’ 3rd goal.
Special teams were a large factor for the Eagles’ victory. The Power Play scored 3 times on 6 opportunities, while the Penalty Kill was perfect killing off all 4 opportunities the Storm had with the man advantage.
Tian Rask scored twice (5 & 6) his 2nd career two-goal game with the Eagles and Captain Colton Young (14) scored the other goal. “We’ve been working a lot with Tian Rask on the Power Play to get him to release the puck like that and tonight and we saw 2 good shots from him,” said Milne.
The Eagles wrap up their 3-game homestand Saturday night as they welcome another North Division opponent, the Whitecourt Wolverines (12-13-1) at 7 pm. It will be the Eagles’ 5th game in 8 days, but after tomorrow’s game, the team will get to enjoy a week off as their next action will be on the following Saturday (Dec. 1).
EAGLES’ FUN FACTS:
– It was the 1st time since December 2013 that the Eagles had back-to-back Shutouts. Ryan Ferguson shutout the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 4-0 on December 7, 2013, and Cam Barnes shutout the Calgary Canucks 1-0 on December 10 of that year.
– The Grande Prairie Storm is the 1st opponent that the Eagles have completed their season series against this season. The Eagles have swept the season series vs their North division foe for the 2nd time in the last 3 seasons.
– The Eagles have won 5 of their last 7 games after starting the month of November 0-3.
The Eagles had an Affiliate Player who made his Eagle debut tonight. It was Forward Heath Armstrong, a 2002-born who plays Midget AAA with the Calgary Buffaloes. Eagles Taden Rattie and Kazu Prevost were out of the lineup Friday night. Rattie received a 1-game suspension, so he is eligible to draw back in the lineup Saturday night, while Prevost has one more game to serve of his 2-game suspension he was handed following the game vs Olds on Tuesday night.
– Congratulations to the Canmore Wolverines High School Football team on capturing the Provincial Championship! Come out and welcome the team home as they will be attending the Eagles game on Saturday evening.