UPCOMING HOME GAMES
FRIDAY, NOV. 8 – WHITECOURT WOLVERINES
SATURDAY, NOV. 9 – CALGARY MUSTANGS
Winners of five straight games, the Canmore Eagles will be looking to take advantage of home ice as they enter a stretch of their Alberta Junior Hockey League schedule that will see them play four straight home games over the next two weekends.
With a record of 11-10-1, Canmore currently sits in fifth-place in the eight-team AJHL Southern Division standings with 23 points, just four points behind the second-place Okotoks Oilers and a single point behind the third and fourth place Calgary Mustangs and Drumheller Dragons.
The Eagles will begin their four-game home stand with a Friday night game (Nov. 8) against the Whitecourt Wolverines, followed by a Saturday night game (Nov. 9) against the Calgary Mustangs.
In their two games against the Whitecourt this season, the Eagles have lost two very close games –a 4-3 decision at the AJHL Showcase Weekend in Spruce Grove on Sept. 26 and a tough 3-2 loss in Whitecourt on Oct. 20.
When asked if some sort of revenge would be on the player’s minds, Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne downplayed that motive.
“Our opponent should be irrelevant,” said Milne. “We just have to be prepared to play the game the way we want to play. We are playing a very structured game right now and we are starting to see some positive results. With five straight wins, the players are starting to believe in the systems and we just need to continue to play that way.
“We are a bigger club physically this year and our forwards are starting to create some offensive turnovers that we have capitalized on. Our defenceman are very mobile and they have been doing an excellent job of getting the puck out of our end. The veterans are playing very responsible hockey right now and the rookies are contributing some big goals for us. Throw in some excellent goaltending from Ryan Ferguson and we’re playing some of our best hockey of the season.”
Game time is 7 PM for both games.
NOTEBOOK: Eagle forward Joe Serpico, acquired in a trade from the Calgary Mustangs late last week, had an assist on the game winning goal in last Friday’s 2-1 victory over the Brooks Bandits and the game winning goal in Monday’s 2-1 victory over the Calgary Canucks . . .Forward Lane Olson, out of the Eagle lineup since Oct. 1 with monocucleosis, is back in practice and could return to the lineup this weekend . . . Eleven of the Eagles past 12 games have been decided by a single goal.