Eight beller rings in New Year

Canmore closed out 2025 with a bang and rang in the New Year with a boom, hammering the Olds Grizzlys 8-0 on Friday (Jan. 2) at the Canmore Recreation Centre. The fireworks would come Saturday (Jan. 3) as the Eagles were putting the final touches to a sparkling 6-3 home-ice win over the Calgary Canucks that ended with a game ending explosion.

The two victories ran Canmore’s winning streak to four games – all on home ice. In those four games, Canmore outscored its opponents 27-8. The results put the Eagles into second place in the South Division at 17-13-1-0 for 35 points – two better than the Calgary Canucks (16-13-1-0) and Drumheller Dragons (14-14-1-4).  The idle Camrose Kodiaks (17-12-2-0), who don’t return to action until Jan. 9, hold first place with 36 points.

Canmore outscored its opponents 27-8 in the past four games as the team climbed from fourth to second in the division. Canmore could be joined by Drumheller, who will travel to Olds on Sunday (Jan. 4) and Calgary, who host Drayton Valley on Monday (Jan. 5), at 35 points, just one point back of Camrose before next weekend’s slate of games.

Cohen Daoust had two goals and six assists in the two victories and has a seven-game points streak featuring five goals and 12 assists. He is now fifth in league scoring with 46 points (20G-26A).

Aidan Tkachuk entered the league’s top 10 scorers after earning three assists Friday and scoring twice Saturday.  He now has 37 points (15G-22A) and comes out of the weekend riding a four-game points streak (4G-5A).

Hudson Landmark extended his points streak to six games (4G-4A) with a goal on Friday and a goal and assist on Saturday to reach the 30-point mark (8G-22A) in 27 games.

Easton Milne has a four-game points streak (2G-2A) and the 2008-born forward has 15 points (9G-6A) in his past 19 games. His nine goals are fourth most among AJHL rookies.

Jonathan Gomez came into the weekend with one goal in 25 games but scored twice on Friday and had another goal on Saturday in a five-point weekend that saw him almost double his season totals. The Laguna Beach, Calif., resident now has 11 points (4G-7A) in his first season of junior A hockey in Canada.

While Landon Scott did pick up an assist in the win over Calgary – just his third point of the season – he has seen his penalty minutes count climb during the winning streak, assessed 56 minutes over the past four games to climb to 109 minutes – the most of any active player in the AJHL. The rookie defenceman also has taken the most minor penalties of any player with 22.

Alex Scheiwiller earned his first shutout of the season with a 32-save performance in the win over Olds and gave up three goals on 34 shots in the victory over Calgary. He now has a 12-10 record with 2.96 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

The Eagles have some injury concerns coming out of the holiday break with forward Gus Schill (leg) and Reid Larson (hand) unable to go on the weekend while Casey Black (shoulder) left Friday’s game and did not play Saturday. The Eagles called in affiliate Nixon Chanski (Grande Peace Storm, AEHL U18) to help on defence, giving the 2008-born, St. Albert resident his junior A debut.

Next up, Canmore heads to Drumheller on Friday, Jan. 9 and  Olds on Saturday, Jan. 10. Game times are 7 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Scheiwiller with 32 saves and Daoust with two goals and two assists were the dominant performances but there were plenty of others helping out as the Eagles routed the Grizzlys for the second time this season. Gomez finished with two goals and one assist, while also scoring were Keegan De Sa (3), Milne (9), Landmark (7) and Berkley Kufflick, with his first junior A goal. Tkachuk had three assists.

The last time these two teams met was Sept. 23 when the Eagles bested the Grizzlys 9-4 in Olds. That game, Lutic had two goals and three assists but in Friday’s victory he was held off the scoresheet snapping a five-game points streak.

Canmore led 3-0 after the first period and 7-0 after the second period.

Olds outshot Canmore 32-31. Connor Johnson (6-11/4.08/.897) started in goal for Olds but was pulled after 27 minutes, having given up four goals on 14 shots. He was replaced by Corbin Sanderman (3-10/4.75/.876) who gave up four goals on 17 shots.

On the power play, Canmore finished 2-for-4 while Olds went 0-for-5.

First there were the goals. Canmore took a 4-0 lead and were up 5-2 at the end of the second period.

Canmore took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Gomez (4) and Tkachuk (14).

Goals from Landmark (8) and Conor Watson (2) made it 4-0 by two minutes of the second period, chasing a starting goaltender in successive games. Calgary would get on the board via Harper LoLacher (27) with Komarniski (2) answering for the Eagles. Ben Binder-Nord (2) would score a last-minute goal for the Canucks.

Grant Reid (12) made it a two-goal deficit at 1:48 of the third period but there would be no coming back as the Eagles improved to 13-0-0-0 when holding the lead after two periods of play. Tkachuk (15) scored his second of the game at 12:34 to complete the scoring.

Canmore outshot Calgary 36-34. Noah Nelson (11-8/2.97/.908) started and gave up four goals on 12 shots. Logan Cunningham (3-4/3.58/.902) came on two minutes into the second period and gave up two goals on 24 shots.

Then with the result seemingly settled came the fireworks with the result being an accumulated 193 penalty minutes between the two teams which will certainly draw the ire of the league office as it reviews the incidents over the next couple of days.

Most of those penalty minutes came in the final three minutes.

First there was a pushing and shoving scrum in the Calgary zone involving everyone but Scheiwiller – who was at the other end of the ice but creeping closer to the centre line as it unfolded. The result was three minors (two to Calgary) and three misconducts (two to Canmore).

The game would end with a wild fight-filled melee with 2.7 seconds – run off by the officials – that produced 139 minutes in penalties to its participants which included all nine skaters as Calgary was on the power play at the time: one minor to Canmore, four fighting majors (three to Calgary), six 10-minute misconducts (three apiece) and five game misconducts (three to Calgary).

Canmore finished 1-for-5 on the power play and was assessed 91 penalty minutes (8 minors/1 major/5 10-minute misconducts/2 game misconducts).

Calgary was 0-for-6 on the power play and assessed 102 penalty minutes (6 minors/3 majors including a 10-minute fighting major/4 10-minute misconducts/3 game misconducts).

Canmore’s next home game is against Calgary on Saturday, Jan. 16, 7 p.m., at the Canmore Recreation Centre.

OVERTIME: It was another weekend of sellouts as 900 fans poured into the Canmore Recreation Centre on Friday and 829 attended Saturday’s tilt. … Friday’s game got off to a late start, delayed by 30 minutes when a pane of glass was broken at the ice-cleaning entrance during warmup. … Can’t get to a game in person because it’s sold out, all AJHL games can be viewed with a flohockey.tv subscription. … The Canmore Eagles are always in need of more volunteers to help with game day experiences whether you are new to the game or an avid hockey supporter, email info@canmoreeagles.com for more information on opportunities and game-day perks that come with being part of the Game Day Crew.