Onto the Playoffs

The regular season is done. Now the hard work begins.

The Canmore Eagles will take on the Drumheller Dragons in the South Division semifinal round of the 2025 Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs. The best-of-seven series begins Friday, March 21 at the Canmore Recreation Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.

Canmore finished second in the South after finishing with a record of 35-12-5-2 for 77 points. The Eagles ended their regular season with a 5-4 win over the Grizzlys in Olds on Friday (March 14). The Eagles rallied in the final three minutes to pull out the victory, which gave them first place overall in the league on the penultimate day of the schedule. Will Lutic scored the game winner at 18:49 of the third period after Emmanuel Hudson had tied the game at 17:36.

Hudson scored twice in the game, his first two goals as an Eagle this season. Cohen Daoust (24th goal) and Hudson Landmark (2) also scored. Lutic’s goal was his eighth of the season.

Olds goals came from Brenden Thomas (2), Nolan Viesner (2), Hunter Motely (9) and former-Eagle Brayden Schwartz (3).

Canmore led 2-1 after the first period with the game tied at 3-3 after 40 minutes. The Grizzlys took the lead early in the third period.

Canmore outshot Olds 53-39 with Alex Scheiwiller in goal for the Eagles and Connor Johnson in goal for the Grizzlys.

On the power play, Canmore went 2-for-11 while Olds was 2-for-4.

Canmore did not dress Owen Jones, Rhett Dekowny, Casey Black, Ethan Look, Jaren Brinson and the still injured Kayden Rawji. Cole Wadsworth made a return to the lineup after missing nearly two months recovering from a second shoulder injury.

On the final day of the season (Saturday, March 15), victories by the Calgary Canucks (37-13-2-2) and Whitecourt Wolverines (36-12-3-3) would put the two division winners on 78 points. The Canucks would win the overall league title by virtue of a tie-breaking system that had to go to a fourth factor, goal differential, as they and the Wolverines tied on regulation-time wins, season series wins, and wins in head-to-head matches including shootouts. Calgary’s league and division titles were sealed by a 12-2 hammering of Olds on that final day giving them a plus-116 compared to Whitecourt’s plus-67.

Drumheller (32-18-4-0) grabbed third place in the South Division with a 6-3 win over Calgary on Friday, scoring four consecutive goals in the third period after going down 3-2. Fourth-place Camrose Kodiaks (30-16-3-5) needed a point from their final game against Whitecourt on Saturday to grab back third place but were defeated 4-2. The Dragons and Kodiaks tied at 68 points, with the tie-breaker being regulation-time wins: Drumheller had 29 while Camrose had 21.

In the North, Whitecourt will take on the fourth-place Fort McMurray Oil Barons (24-26-3-1) while the second-place Grande Prairie Storm (30-17-1-6) are matched against the third-place Lloydminster Bobcats (31-19-1-3).

All four best-of-seven series open with games Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 at the higher seeds. The series will switch to the lower seed home sites on Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26. If necessary, Game 5 is at the higher seed on Friday, March 28, Game 6 at the lower seed on Sunday, March 30 and Game 7 at the higher seed on Tuesday, April 1.

Canmore had two of the top five scorers in the AJHL this season in Jones, fourth at 61 points (22G-39A), and Dekowny, fifth at 59 points (27G-32A), while Drumheller’s Bradley Gallo finished second in league scoring with 68 points (33G-35A). Calgary’s Jack Plandowski topped all scorers with 79 points (34G-45A).

Canmore won four of six regular-season games versus Drumheller this past season, including all three games played at the Canmore Recreation Centre: 3-2 on Dec. 20, 2024; 7-2 on Jan. 3; 6-2 on Jan. 18. The Dragons won the first two games played in Drumheller – 2-1 on Nov. 30 and 5-1 on Feb. 7 – with the Eagles winning the final regular-season encounter, 4-3 on Feb. 15.

The lines to watch in this series: Drumheller’s Gallo with a pair of dynamic rookies in Easton Daneault (21G-35A) and Ellis Mieyette (12G-39A); For Canmore, Dekowny and Jones have been nearly unstoppable in the back half of the season with Rawji (18G-29A), who missed eight of the last nine games due to a lower body injury, or Daoust (24G-22A).

Rawji led all scorers in the season series with nine points (3G-6A). With Canmore outscoring Drumheller 22-16 over the six games, there were plenty of scoring stars on the Eagles’ side, with a trio of players registering eight points: Dekowny (4G-4A), Daoust (3G-5A) and Black (1G-7A). Jones registered seven points (4G-3A) and Adian Tkachuk had six points (1G-5A).

For Drumheller, Mieyette was in on half the Dragons’ goals with eight points (2G-6A), while registering five points were Gallo (2G-3A) and Canmore native Will McLaughlin (6A).

In the goaltending matchup, Scheiwiller dominated with wins in each of his four starts, with a .930 save percentage and 2.25 goals-against average. Teammate Hudson Sedo lost both his starts with a .897 S/Pct. and a 3.52 GAA.

For Drumheller, Sean Cootes won one of five games in which he started with a .874 S/Pct. and a 4.33 GAA while Matthew Kondro was 1-0 with a .932 S/Pct. and a 2.51 GAA.

Canmore’s power play was 12-for-44 or 27.3% while Drumheller was 3-for-25 or 12%. The Eagles took 68 penalty minutes (an average of 11.3 per game) while the Dragons took 166 penalty minutes (an average of 27.7 per game).

More numbers:

At Home: Canmore – 20-4-2-1; Drumheller – 19-7-1-0;

On the Road: Canmore – 15-8-3-1; Drumheller – 13-11-3-0;

Overtime Stats (including shootouts): Canmore 3-7; Drumheller 3-4;

Season goals (For-Against): Canmore (206-142); Drumheller (198-149);

Power Play (Goals-for/Chances): Canmore 22.3% (61/273); Drumheller 22.3% (45/247);

Penalty Killing (Goals-allowed/Chances): Canmore 83.5% (34/206); Drumheller 80.8% (50/261).

Shots on goal per game: Canmore 35.81; Drumheller 34.56.

Shots allowed per game: Canmore 29.87; Drumheller 30.41;

Record when outshooting opponents: Canmore 24-3-1-2; Drumheller 25-10-1-0;

Record when being outshot by opponents: Canmore 11-7-4-0; Drumheller 7-8-2-0;

Record when scoring first: Canmore 26-4-3-1; Drumheller 22-5-1-0.

The Eagles handed out their end of season awards on Saturday night:

Most Valuable Player: Rhett Dekowny and Owen Jones;

Leading Scorer: Owen Jones;

Players Choice Award: Haruki Morikawa;

Defenceman of the Year: Casey Black;

Rookie of the Year: Liam Magnuson;

Most Improved Player: Cohen Daoust;

Most Sportsman-like: Nolan Kazeil;

Most Dedicated Player: Ethan Look;

Academic Athletic Award: Liam Magnuson;

Canmore Minor Hockey Award (in memory of Darren Deegan): Alex Scheiwiller.

Scheiwiller has been shortlisted for the AJHL most valuable player and top goaltender awards. Also on the league’s awards shortlist are Dekowny for most dedicated player and GM/Head Coach Andrew Milne for Coach of the Year. The recipients will be announced during the playoffs.

Canmore went its final 19 home games without a regulation time defeat (16 regulation wins, two overtime losses and a shootout setback). Jones recorded points in each of the final 16 of those games (12G-22A).

Canmore’s average attendance this season was 760 fans per game, fourth best in the AJHL this season behind Grande Prairie (1,572), Fort McMurray (1,102) and Lloydminster (923).

EAGLES NEST: Canmore Eagles’ playoff tickets are available at canmoreeagles.ca/tickets. … If you can’t attend in person, you can watch Eagles’ games as well as the rest of the AJHL online, along with much more live and on demand hockey, through a FloSports subscription available at flohockey.tv.