Eagles win historic first AJHL championship

The Canmore Eagles claimed the franchise’s first Alberta Junior Hockey League championship on Saturday (April 25) with a 2-1 victory over the Whitecourt Wolverines.

Conor Watson scored the game winning goal at 6:18 of the second period, snapping a 1-1 tie. It was his second goal of this series, smashing home an inch perfect pass from Hudson Landmark out of the right corner to the far side the goal and onto the stick of the charging goal scorer.

The teams were tied 1-1after the first period. Tavynn Hamilton (3) opened the scoring 2:35 into the game. Cole Barrett would tie it for Whitecourt at 13:15.

Whitecourt outshot Canmore 40-22 with playoff MVP Alex Scheiwiller putting in another superb performance.

In raising the Inter Pipeline Cup, Canmore now advances to the Centennial Cup, the national championship of junior A hockey, to be contested in Summerside, P.E.I., May 7-17.

Canmore’s 4-1 series victory included winning all three games in Whitecourt, who held home-ice advantage after posting the best overall record in the AJHL at 39-13-1-2 for 81 points and finishing first in the North Division.

Canmore finished atop the South Division at 32‑19‑3‑1 for 68 points, landing fourth overall behind three North heavyweights. That strong finish felt a long way off at Christmas, when the Eagles were wobbling around the .500 mark and fluttering near fourth place in the South — but once January arrived, the team caught fire, soaring through the back half of the schedule with a 17‑6‑2‑1 burst.

Canmore would eliminate the defending national champion Calgary Canucks, who placed fourth in the South this season, in six games (4-2), followed by the second-place Drumheller Dragons in four games (4-0). That put the Eagles, who have been existence since the 1995-96 season into their first Inter Pipeline Cup final.

Canmore would take the opening two games in Whitecourt by scores of 3-1 on Friday, April 17, and 3-2 on Saturday, April 18. The Eagles may have been fortunate to catch the Wolverines having little time to prepare for the final series after coming off a hard fought seven-game series win over the Grande Prairie Storm that concluded with a 2-1 overtime victory on Tuesday, April 14.

Whitecourt also eliminated the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in five games, losing the opener of that series, to face Grande Prairie, who challenged the Wolverines for top spot overall right up to the final weekend of regular season play.

The Wolverines won both regular season games played at the Canmore Recreation Centre and continued that trend with a 3-2 victory in Game 3 of the final on Tuesday, April 21.

Three tough defensive duels later, the Eagles finally found the “on” switch for their offence in Game 4, flipping it with flair on their way to a 5–3 victory. The Eagles took a 5-1 lead by 3:52 of the third period with the Wolverines managing a pair of replies for a more flattering score line.

Back in Whitecourt for Saturday’s Game 5, the series returned to its defensive grind, with Scheiwiller putting on an MVP‑worthy clinic. The lone puck to beat him? A cruel redirection off his own defender’s stick that looped over his left shoulder.

No one though inside JDA Place was conceding Canmore the game when Watson scored at 6:18 of the second period and the Wolverines battled right down to the final few 10ths of a second. Eagles captain John Szabo would take the final defensive zone face-off with 6/10ths of a second remaining and made sure his opponent never touched the puck to secure the victory and a first championship.

In winning the MVP award, Scheiwiller went 12-2 in the playoffs with two shutouts, a 2.38 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. In the series against Whitecourt, the 20-year-old, who was named the league’s top goaltender during the regular season, was 4-1 with a 2.00 GAA and a .940 S/Pct.

Canmore’s Will Lutic was the top playoff scorer with seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points. The 18-year-old from St. Albert had points in each of the five games versus Whitecourt: two goals and five assists.

General Manager and Head Coach Andrew Milne, who celebrated reaching 1,000 games over 18 years in charge of the Eagles near the end of the regular season, rarely deviated from his game plan during the playoffs keeping and getting rewarded for the line groupings through each game and round.

Canmore’s lineup features Lutic with Bryson Insinger (7G-12A—19Pts) and rookie Easton Milne (7G-8A—15Pts).

Cohen Daoust (4G-12A—16Pts), who led the team in regular-season scoring with 75 points (31G-44A) in 50 games, continues his association with Hudson Landmark (8G-6A—14Pts) and Aidan Tkachuk (5G-9A—14Pts).

Szabo (2G-8A—10Pts) and Ryder Dembo (4G-7A—11Pts) partner with Owen Mastroianno (2G-4A—6Pts), with the quirk of Hamilton (3G-1A) starting in place of Mastroianno when Coach Milne turns in his game-starting lineup for the Eagles.

Cole Wadsworth featured in all 15 games, while the forward rotation also includes Miller Komarniski, Gus Schill and Jonathan Gomez.

Watson, from Weymouth, Mass., led all defencemen in scoring with nine points including two goals, with the second of those goals now having the distinction of being the most important goal in Canmore Eagles’ history, partners with Quinn Keeler (1G-2A—3Pts), while Reid Larson (1G-7A—8Pts) teams with Haruki Morikawa, and Landon Scott (1A) is alongside Evan Markel (1A), with Berkley Kufflick (1A) rotating through the lineup.

Backup goaltender Hudson Sedo (0-1, 2.23, .913) featured in one playoff game, that was Canmore’s Game 4 loss to Calgary tying the series 2-2, where he came on in relief of Scheiwiller with the Eagles trailing 4-0. The Eagles lost the contest 7-5 but would go on to win eight consecutive playoff games before suffering a Game 4 loss in the league final.

Also on the playoff roster for Canmore are Keegan De Sa and affiliate players Nixon Chanski, Issac Riep and Brody Daoust.

Joining Milne on the bench this season is long-serving associate GM and coach Bryan Arneson and newest coaching addition Ayrton Chapman, who joined the team mid-season, as well as athletic therapist Dave Rowe. Not seen on game day, but instrumental to the team’s on-ice success is director of player performance Rebecca Kuresh.

Casey Black, a fourth-year forward and the captain of this team to start the season only to have his junior career ended by a severe shoulder injury in January that required surgery, donned his uniform for the final time at the conclusion of the title-clinching game and was on the ice to receive the Inter Pipeline Cup trophy alongside Szabo.

The Eagles’ on-ice celebration lasted for more than 30 minutes as the players brought on family members and billets, who made the 5 ½-hour drive north to witness the historic contest, to take part in the festivities and have pictures taken with the team members and the trophy.

“At the end of the day, I am super proud of these guys. You need a team to be successful in the playoffs, and I thought we had that.

“I think when you work for something like that and to see it all come together it’s unbelievable … where we were to where we got to it’s been an amazing situation. There were times we weren’t sure where we were at and now we have a championship.”

“I was set up really well. I just saw the lane, and I drove and Landmark hit me back door, and I pounded it home.”

“To win it all is a dream come true.

“We knew we had to put a lot of work in to get it all done and everyone just bought in, and everyone did their job. We bonded as a group and now we are brothers for life.”

“… it’s something we’ve talked about since the start of the season, it’s just an honour to be able to help lead this group and get the job done.

“Everyone just upped their game and knew what they had to do for us to be successful and we stuck to it for the whole playoff run. We played so consistent every single game.”

“It’s incredible is the only way to put it. … I have been watching for my whole life, 18 years I’ve been a fan of this team, been through all the ups and downs and to finally win it, it’s just insane.”

“This feels amazing, to be able to do it for a team I grew up watching … still can’t believe it.

“I grew up watching the Eagles. I grew up watching Arnie (Bryan Arneson), so it was definitely a factor of me wanting to get to this level. … still got one more trophy to go after.”

The season, as previously mentioned is not over for Canmore, who will head to Summerside, P.E.I., the first week of May to take part in the Centennial Cup. The 10-team event features the league champions of the nine Hockey Canada sanctioned loops across Canada as well as the host Summerside Western Capitals.

Teams already confirmed are Canmore and its pool opposition, Flin Flon Bombers (Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League), Niverville Nighthawks (Manitoba Junior Hockey League), a representative of the Superior International Junior Hockey League – either the Thunder Bay North Stars or Fort Francis Lakers , who will contest a Game 7 on Tuesday (April 28) and host Summerside. On the other side of the draw will be Rockland Nationals (Central Canada Hockey League), Toronto Patriots (Ontario Junior Hockey League), Greater Sudbury Cubs (Northern Ontatio Junior Hockey League), CF de Longueuil (LHJAAAQ) and the Maritime Hockey League champion – either the Edmunston Blizzard or Truro Bearcats, with Game 5 being contested Monday (April 27) with the Bearcats leading the series 3-1.

All games from the Centennial Cup will be streamed on HN Live.