PHOTO: Coy Prevost had a pair of goals and an assist to help the Eagles to a 3-1 road victory in Drumheller on Saturday night. (File photo courtesy of Pam Doyle)
NEXT GAME: Calgary Canucks at Canmore – Tuesday, Nov. 10 – 7 PM
To be considered a serious contender in any competitive sport’s league, the ultimate goal is to win the majority of your home games and play at least .500 while on the road.
The Canmore Eagles are doing just that this season as they defeated the Drumheller Dragons 3-1 in Alberta Junior Hockey League action in Drumheller on Saturday night. It was the Eagles third straight road win and evened their overall road record to 6-6.
Combined with an impressive 6-1-2 record at home, the Eagles now sport an overall record of 12-7-2 and currently sit in a second-place tie with the Brooks Bandits in the AJHL Southern Division standings with 26 points.
Kimberley native Coy Prevost was the hero for the Eagles in Drumheller scoring two goals (8 and 9th) and adding an assist, while Matt Forchuk moved into a first-place tie in the AJHL scoring parade with an empty net goal (12th) to secure the victory. Forchuk now has an impressive 30 points (12 goals and 18 assists) in just 21 games to date.
Goaltender Ryan Bontorin was sharp in the Canmore net once again stopping all but one of the 28 Dragon shots fired his way and improved his overall record to 6-3-1.
The Eagles special team units were once again at the forefront of the team’s success Saturday night as they scored a powerplay goal and limited the Dragons to just one powerplay goal in seven opportunities. The Eagles have now scored a powerplay goal in six consecutive games and tallied 11 powerplay goals in that stretch.
“The Penalty Kill unit won the game for us tonight,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne afterwards. “We put ourselves in a bad spot in the second period with some sloppy stick work, but our PK unit bailed us out. We blocked some big shots and Bontorin stood strong. I am happy to see our guys play an effective road game. We know that when we play our game the right way, we have a good chance of winning. Our guys are seeing that now and gaining confidence from it. We are playing some effective hockey right now.”
The Eagles next action will be on Tuesday, November 10 when the Calgary Canucks (7-14-1) come to Canmore. The Eagles have played the Canucks just once this season, winning 5-2 in Calgary on November 4.