The Olds Grizzlys erupted for four unanswered goals in a span of four minutes midway through the second period and went on to defeat the home-town Canmore Eagles 8-5 in an Alberta Junior Hockey League game played at the Canmore Recreation Centre on Tuesday night.
The victory, before 358 fans, was the first road win of the season for the Grizzlys and improves their early season record to 3-5. The Eagles record fell to 3-3.
“Tonight was embarrassing for everyone,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne, whose club was outshot 42-32 on the night. “Our effort was not there and that’s completely unacceptable. Our guys thought that because they played hard and competed in Fort McMurray last weekend, that tonight was going to be easy. Well instead we got outworked by Olds and had to learn a lesson the hard way.”
Despite knowing how dangerous Olds forward Spencer Dorowicz could be, the Eagles allowed the Grizzlys captain to free-wheel all night long as the 20-year-old registered a four point night, including three goals.
“We all know how good Dorowicz can be, but we didn’t do anything to slow him down,” said a perplexed Milne. “We just stood around and watched him control the play. We didn’t play a very smart game and it cost us.”
Luke Simpson had a three point night for the Eagles, including two goals (5th and 6th), while Jeremy Margeson (2nd), Austen Hebert (2nd) and Kyle Pauls (1st) rounded out the Eagles scoring.
The Eagles will have little time to dwell on last night’s loss as they will be heading north to Spruce Grove for the annual AJHL Showcase Event with games scheduled against the Whitecourt Wolverines on Thursday, Sept. 26 and the Calgary Canucks on Friday, September 27.
The Showcase Event has not been kind to the Eagles of late as they have lost all four games during the past two seasons and have been outscored 22-7 in the process.
