Friday, September 28, 2012 – If there was any good news from this afternoon’s 7-1 loss to the Grande Prairie Storm during the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Showcase weekend in Spruce Grove, it’s that all the damage done was self-inflicted.
On an afternoon where pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, the Eagles gave up four power-play goals and one short-handed goal and saw their early season record drop to 4-2-1.
Down 3-1 after two periods of play, Eagle forward Nils Moser was singled out for a relatively unheard of nine minute penalty – a two minute minor for high sticking, a two minute minor for instigating, and a five minute major for fighting. Moser was assessed the penalties after he came to the defence of captain Riley Point who had just absorbed a crushing check directly below the Eagle bench from Grande Prairie forward Sasha Larocque. Laracque did not receive a penalty on the play.
In the ensuing nine minute powerplay, the Storm scored three times and effectively put the game away.
Canmore was outshot 31-26 on the night. Rookie Jordon Revie had the lone Eagle goal, his second of the season.
On the positive side, the Eagles will have little time to dwell on the loss as they will take to the ice on Saturday at 12 noon for another Showcase Weekend game against the Bonnyville Pontiacs. The Pontiacs are in first-place in the AJHL Northern Division with a record of 6-1-2. The Pontiacs defeated the Calgary Canucks 2-1 in other AJHL action today.
