Trey Phillips had a pair of goals and an assist but it wasn’t enough as the Canmore Eagles dropped a 6-3 decision to the Bonnyville Pontiacs Friday night in an Alberta Junior Hockey League game played before 760 fans in Bonnyville.
The loss drops the Eagle’s record to 29-19-3 and keeps them in fourth-place in the Southern Division standings with 61 points, four points behind the second-place Drumheller Dragons and three points ahead of the fifth-place Camrose Kodiaks.
The Eagles were in the game as they trailed 2-1 after the first period, and 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Bryan Arneson (11th) had the other Eagle goal, while goaltender Ryan Ferguson stopped 39 of 44 Pontiac shots but saw his record drop to 21-10-2.
“We didn’t deserve to win tonight,” said Eagle’s Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne afterwards. “We didn’t play very smart and we turned the puck over in the neutral zone way too many times and it ended up costing us. We had our chances, but we just didn’t have the overall effort needed for those goals to go in. Thankfully, we have a quick turnaround and we can prepare for Saturday’s game right away.”
The Eagles will play the Lloyminster Bobcats on Saturday night in Lloydminster, before travelling to Camrose for a huge Southern Division game against the Kodiaks on Sunday afternoon.
NOTEBOOK: With his two goal performance, Phillips now has 22 goals on the year and leads the entire AJHL in scoring by a d-man with 55 points.