The Canmore Eagles connected for three power play goals Saturday night but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles dropped a 7-5 decision to the Sherwood Park Crusaders in an Alberta Junior Hockey League game played before just 313 fans in Sherwood Park.
It was the second straight loss for the Eagles in as many nights after they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Spruce Grove Saints in Spruce Grove on Friday night.
The Eagles, with a record of 19-15-2, will wrap-up their current three-game road trip with an afternoon game in Olds against the Grizzlys (15-15-6) on Sunday.
Sherwood Park scored two goals late in the first period to take a 2-0 first period intermission lead and extended their lead to 4-2 after two periods.
Canmore did fight back to get within one goal on two occasions in the third period, but an abundance of Eagle minor penalties all but eliminated any chance of an Eagle comeback.
Canmore was outshot by a 30-26 margin on the night, with Eagle netminder Cameron Barnes (7-8-1) taking the loss.
Connor Wilson was the Eagle’s “Star of Game” with a goal (9th) and two assists, while Luke Simpson (11th), Joe Serpico (8th), Simon Philp (13th) and John Stevens (3rd) had the remaining Eagle goals.
“We didn’t play our game for the first twenty minutes, and we were forced to play catch-up the rest of the game and we just didn’t get it done,” said Eagle Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne.
NOTEBOOK: The usually disciplined Eagle team was anything but last night taking three minor penalties for slashing, two minor penalties for roughing, and two more minors for cross-checking. Six of these minor penalties were called in the third period. . . .Eagle’s captain Nils Moser also received a one game suspension for “abuse of an official” and will not be available for today’s game in Olds. . . With two straight losses, the Eagles have now fallen into fifth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 40 points. Canmore now trails the 4th place Camrose Kodiaks by one point, the 2nd and 3rd place Okotoks Oilers and Drumheller Dragons by five points, and the 1st-place Brooks Bandits by eight points.
