Photo : Sei Spo Press
Eight is great!
The Canmore Eagles showcased their offence to an appreciative near full house at the Canmore Recreation Centre on Friday (Oct. 7) with a crowd-pleasing 8-3 victory over the Drumheller Dragons.
Rookies Rhett Dekowny and Mason Bueckert, along with newly acquired Reed Jacobson, who has 114 Western Hockey League games to his credit, each scored two goals. Tyler Loughman and Vincent Scott had the other goals as Canmore recorded its largest Alberta Junior Hockey League win this season.
Drumheller goals came from Tate Yule, Isaiah Peters and Dylan Glinski.
Canmore led 3-1 after one period and 6-1 after 40 minutes. The goaltenders were kept busy in this contest, as Drumheller fired 50 shots at Eagles netminder Matthew Malin, while Canmore was credited for 32 shots on the Dragons duo of Garrett Fuller and William Dyke.
Canmore’s power play was 2-for-7 and marks the first time in nine games the team scored more than one power-play goal in a contest. Drumheller’s power play was 1-for-6.
The 20-year-old Jacobson was released after playing just three games with the Edmonton Oil Kings this season after playing the previous three seasons with Spokane Chiefs. In his Friday debut, Jacobson played alongside long-time minor hockey teammate Riley Dekowny and they were reunited on a line that also featured Rhett Dekowny.
Also joining the Eagles during the week is 2004-born defenceman Ryan Nolan of Calgary, who split last season between the WHL Medicine Hat Tigers and Saskatoon Blades.
In other roster moves, 20-year-old forward Carter Myrol of Edmonton left the club to pursue interests outside of junior hockey. Myrol had four points (1G-3A) in seven games this season. He featured in 58 games (13G-11A) last season for the Eagles. He also spent time with the Spruce Grove Saints and Grande Prairie Storm over five AJHL seasons (123GP-25G-20A). Also, the team completed a transfer move for future considerations that sent rookie defenceman Dylan Bidyk (2GP-1A) to his hometown Calgary Canucks.
Tripped up in Fort Mac
After posting their largest victory of the season in their previous outing, Canmore endured its biggest loss of the campaign. The long road excursion to Fort McMurray did not sit well with the Eagles as the Oil Barons banked a 7-1 victory in a Sunday (Oct. 9) matinee.
Camore’s lone goal came from Kayden Rawji, which at the time knotted the game at 1-1 in the first period. Fort McMurray would regain the lead in the period, add three goals in the second frame and two more in the final 20 minutes to skate away with a slick victory.
Scoring for the Oil Barons were Keefe Gruener, with two, Max McCoy, Jesse Burchart, Connor Michaud, Ryder Matter and Jaden Dyke.
Fort McMurray outshot Canmore 44-33, with Andreai Proctor-Ramirez in goal for all seven against the Eagles, with Malin getting the final 16 minutes of the game. Gabe Gratton was the goalie of record for the Oil Barons.
Canmore was 0-for-8 on the power play while Fort McMurray went 1-for-7.
In hopefully what is not another big loss takeaway from this game, Riley Dekowny left midway through the third period with a suspected upper body injury and did not return.
Matinee games have not been good to the Eagles, who are now 4-5-1-0 on the season but have just one overtime win in four afternoon outings this season.
Next up for Canmore is the team they defeated in one of those matinees, the Grande Prairie Storm (2-4-1-1), on Tuesday (Oct. 11), 7 p.m. at the Canmore Recreation Centre. The Eagles defeated the Storm, who are making their only appearance in Canmorre this season, 4-3 in overtime at the AJHL Showcase in Blackfalds on Oct. 1. The general manager of the Storm is all-time Eagles great Mark Bomersback.