Photo: The Eagles will kick off their five-game road trip in Bonnyville on Friday night. (Julie Wilson file photo)
With just 11 games remaining on their 2014-15 Alberta Junior Hockey League regular season schedule, the Canmore Eagles are about to embark on the toughest stretch of their schedule playing five straight road game – all against top teams in the AJHL who all boast above .500 records.
The Eagles, who occupy sixth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 46 points and a record of 22-25-2, currently have a 10 point advantage over the seventh-place Calgary Canucks but trail the fifth-place Olds Grizzlys by five points.
Here is a look at the Eagles upcoming road schedule:
Friday, Feb. 6 – In Bonnyville – The Bonnyville Pontiacs sit in fifth-place in the AJHL Northern Division standings with 56 points and a record 24-19-8. The Pontiacs have already defeated the Eagles twice this season winning 4-1 at the AJHL Showcase weekend in Spruce Grove on Sept. 27, and 5-2 in Canmore on Oct. 25.
Saturday, Feb. 7 – In Lloydminster – The Lloydminster Bobcats sit in second-place in the AJHL Northern Division standings with 61 points and a record of 27-18-7. The Bobcats have already defeated the Eagles twice this season winning 2-0 at the AJHL Showcase weekend in Spruce Grove on Sept. 26, and 4-3 in Canmore on Jan. 16.
Sunday, Feb. 8 – In Camrose – The Camrose Kodiaks sit in first-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 81 points and a record of 39-8-3. The Kodiaks have already defeated the Eagles four times this season winning 7-4 and 5-2 in Canmore on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, and 9-1 and 7-2 in Camrose on Nov. 9 and Jan. 3 respectively.
Wednesday, Feb. 11 – In Brooks – The Brooks Bandits sit in second-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 75 points and a record of 37-12-1. The Bandits have already defeated the Eagles four times this season winning 3-2 (Oct. 10) and 7-2 (Nov. 29) in Canmore, and 5-4 (Oct. 4) and 7-5 in Brooks on Oct. 4 and Jan. 14 respectively
Friday, Feb. 13 – In Drumheller – The Drumheller Dragons sit in fourth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 61 points and a record of 27-16-7. The Eagles defeated the Dragons 2-1 in their first meeting of the year back on Sept. 30 in Canmore, but have dropped their last three encounters losing 1-0 (Oct. 17), 3-1 (Dec. 16) and 3-2 (Jan. 6).
Following this very daunting road trip, the Eagles will wrap up their regular season schedule by playing five of the last six games on home ice. The Eagles next home game will be Saturday, Feb. 14 when they will host the Calgary Mustangs.
NOTEBOOK: The Eagles will be without the services of two 20-year-old defenceman for their first two games of their current road trip as both Jeremy Gordon and Nikolas Kosman have received two-game suspensions due to incidents that occurred in their Jan. 31 home game against the Okotoks Oilers. . . Eagle captain Connor Wilson continues to occupy fifth-place in the AJHL scoring parade with 52 points in 44 games played. . . .The Eagles powerplay is the second best in the AJHL having scored 50 powerplay goals on 238 opportunities for a 21% efficiency rating. . . Joe Serpico, Logan Ferguson and Kyle Pauls are the only Eagles to play in all 49 Eagle games to date.