The month of September is now in the books for the Canmore Eagles and the team has yet to play a regular season game in front of the home fans. But in spite of that, the Eagles are off to one of their best starts in franchise history. Earlier today, playing their 2nd and final game at the AJHL Showcase Weekend in Camrose, the Eagles edged the Lloydminster Bobcats 3-2 in a shootout for their 4th consecutive win. The Eagles improve their record to an impressive five wins and only one loss.
Unlike their first five games of the season, in which the Eagles were involved in high scoring games, today was a more defensive, tight checking, and grinding type of game. When asking Eagles Assistant Coach / Assistant GM Evan McFeeters if he would like to see the team being involved in more of those type of games going forward he answered, “It’s good to see our players respond when playing a different type of game.”
Canmore Eagles 2nd-year netminder Logan Dyck was one of the big reasons why the Eagles were able to keep their winning streak alive. The 19-year-old from Calgary made 30 saves, including 12 in the opening frame that saw the Eagles getting outshot 12-2. Dyck was able to keep the game scoreless with a couple of great saves. The final shots on goal were 32-31 for the Bobcats.
McFeeters mentioned in the post-game interview that Logan Dyck and 20-year-old netminder Thomas Davis are having a great healthy competition between the pipes.
“Thomas and Logan are best friends off the ice,” said McFeeters. “They compete really hard with each other on the ice and both goalies give the team a chance to win every night.”
The Eagles received goals from Daly Hamilton (3) and Max Giangualano (4). In the shootout, the Eagles scored twice, while Lloydminster managed to only score one goal. Scoring in the shootout for the Eagles were Mark Drohan and Connor Lyons with the winner.
Before the Eagles make their debut on home ice, the team has on more game to play on the road and it is a big one. The Eagles will travel to Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary on Tuesday, October 2nd to take on the Calgary Mustangs. The Mustangs are currently sitting in 1st place in the AJHL South division with a 6-1 record. Ironically, both team’s only loss this season has come against each other. The Mustangs defeated the Eagles 6-4 on September 16th, while the Eagles responded with a 6-2 win a week later, on September 23rd. After that, the Eagles will start their home schedule with games against the Okotoks Oilers (2-3-1) on Friday, October 5th and the Brooks Bandits (5-1) on Saturday, October 6th. Puck drop for both games is 7 pm.
EAGLES FUN FACTS:
– With a 5-1 record, the Eagles are off to their best start since the 2004-05 season.
– In the was 1st time this season that the Eagles played in extra time. The last time the Eagles had a game needing overtime was on February 19 2018, when the Eagles defeated the Calgary Mustangs 4-3 in overtime. And the last time the Eagles played in a shootout was on January 21 2018, when the Eagles edged the Olds Grizzlys 4-3.
– It is only the 2nd time that the Canmore Eagles have won both of their games at the AJHL Showcase Weekend, since it became an annual event in 2007. The other time was in 2008 when Head Coach/General Manager Andrew Milne was in his 1st season.