PHOTO : Eagle rookie netminder Levi Nelson picked up his first ever AJHL shutout on Sunday night as the Eagles defeated the Calgary Mustangs 4-0. (file photo – courtesy of Julie Wilson)
NEXT GAME – @ Brooks Bandits on Wednesday, Jan. 14
NEXT HOME GAME: Lloydminster Bobcats on Friday, Jan. 16
If the Canmore Eagles were searching for a vote of confidence, they certainly received it over the weekend as they came up with a pair of well earned victories over the Calgary Canucks on Saturday night and the Calgary Mustangs on Sunday night.
Following up on Saturday night’s 5-1 home-ice victory over the Canucks, the Eagles travelled to Calgary on Sunday night and posted a 4-0 shut-out over the Mustangs.
Rookie netminder Levi Nelson posted his first ever AJHL shut-out on Sunday night stopping all 19 Mustang shots as the Eagles outshot the Mustangs by a wide 36-19 margin. It was also the first shut-out of the season by the Eagles and improved the club’s overall record to 20-21-2.
With the pair of victories, the Eagles now sit in sixth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 41 points, seven points up on the seventh-place Calgary Canucks and just three points behind the fifth-place Olds Grizzlys.
In Sunday’s 4-0 victory, the Eagles received goals from Noah Philp, his first AJHL goal, Nikolas Kosman (4), Kurt Hildebrand (10) and Connor Wilson (18).
“We played very well tonight,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “We started slow but got better as the game went on, and eventually, we took it over in the third. Brett Radford and Noah Philp were awesome for us up front, and goaltender Levi Nelson was solid when tested. Having Jakob Lavoie back in the lineup is also a big plus for our team as he certainly shores up our back-end. These two weekend games were a big test for our hockey club and we secured a big four points in the standings. We have lots of positives from the weekend to build on.”
The Eagles will need all the confidence they can muster as they will travel to Brooks on Wednesday night (Jan. 14) to face the high-flying Bandits (31-10-1). The Bandits are 16-3-1 on home-ice this season and have beaten the Eagles three straight times this year. In their last meeting on November 29 in Canmore, the Bandits embarrassed the Eagles by posting a 7-2 victory.
Following Wednesday’s road game, the Eagles will return home for a pair of games next weekend taking on the Lloydminster Bobcats on Friday (Jan. 16) and the Calgary Mustangs on Saturday (Jan. 17). Both games will start at 7 PM.