PHOTO – Trey Phillips scored a hat-trick and added an assist to lead the Eagles to a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Mustangs on Saturday night. (Photo courtesy of Julie Wilson)
Thanks in large part to a three-goal, four-point performance by 20-year veteran defenceman Trey Phillips, the Canmore Eagles got back in the win column Saturday night defeating the visiting Calgary Mustangs 5-3 in an Alberta Junior Hockey League game played before a season high crowd of 562 at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
The victory improved the Eagles overall record to 12-11-1 and enabled Canmore to leapfrog over the Mustangs (11-10-2) to take over fourth-place in the AJHL Southern Division standings. It was the Eagles fourth straight victory over the Mustangs this season.
“Trey was on fire for us tonight, right from the opening face-off,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne in praise of his fourth-year defenceman who just recently accepted an NCAA Division One scholarship offer from the University of Vermont. “I thought the whole team played extremely well, but Trey really put on a show. I’m sure the hockey coaches in Vermont will be very excited to see the highlights from this game and know what kind of talent is coming their way next year.”
With his four point performance, Phillips now finds himself co-sharing top spot in the Eagles scoring parade with second-year forward Connor Wilson with 21 points.
Canmore goaltender Cameron Barnes also had a strong game in the Eagle net stopping 30 of the 33 Mustang shots and was particularly sharp late in the second period when the Eagles successfully killed off a 47-second two-man advantage for the Mustangs. Canmore was outshot 33-27 on the night.
John Stevens (2nd) and Joe Serpico (7th) had the other Eagle goals, while forward Bryan Arneson chipped in with a three assist evening.
The Eagles will wrap up their current four-game home stand with two games next week as the second-place Okotoks Oilers (12-8-4) will pay a visit to Canmore on Thursday, Nov. 14, with the Northern Division Grande Prairie Storm (11-12-1) following up on Friday, Nov. 15.
Canmore is 2-0 against the Oilers this year, claiming a 4-3 shoot-out victory in Okotoks on Oct. 25, and a 2-1 nail-biter in Canmore on Oct. 29.
NOTEBOOK: Since being acquired from the Calgary Mustangs on November 1st, forward Joe Serpico has two goals and two assists in his first four games in an Eagle sweater. . . Parity seems to have arrived in the AJHL this season as 4 of last night’s 7 games on the schedule went into overtime. . . After 24 games, Canmore is just six points back of the first-place Brooks Bandits in the AJHL Southern Division Standings. The total number of points separating the first-place Bandits and the 7th place Camrose Kodiaks is just 10. . . Prior to the start of last night’s game, the Eagles held a “Moment of Silence” to honour both our war veterans and the 2nd Anniversary of the very sad passing of former Eagle player #19 Patrick Steel. FINISH THE PLAY Patty!