Seven is heaven

The Canmore Eagles smashed out a season-high goal count in its lone Alberta Junior Hockey League game this past week.

Six players, led by a two-goal performance from Tavynn Schlatt, led Canmore to a 7-2 blowout of the Olds Grizzlys at the Canmore Recreation Centre on Saturday (Dec. 7).

In the first of six meetings between the South Division rivals, the Eagles scored three times in each of the second and third periods, after the two teams dueled to a 1-1 tie through the opening 20 minutes.

Canmore captain Rhett Dekowny opened the scoring with his eighth goal of the season. He would be banished from the game for a blow-to-the-head major penalty just past five minutes into the second period.

Olds captain Connor Seeley (8th goal of the season) put the visitors on the board during a first-period power play.

Casey Black’s first goal of the season gave Canmore a new lead in the opening minute of the second period, which was followed by another power-play goal by Olds from Mitchell Patrick (8) near the end of the major penalty.

The bright spot for Olds was its continued excellence playing with the extra skater. The Grizzlys finished the game 2-for-3 on the power play and lead the AJHL at 25 per cent (24/96).

Canmore would run off five consecutive goals with Schlatt’s first, and his fourth of the season, proving the game winner. The second-year winger swung out of the left corner and from near the face-off dot, spun and fired the puck low, near post.

Owen Jones (8) would complete the period scoring.

In the third period, Cleary (4) followed by Schlatt (5) and Zach Coutu (10) produced the first seven-goal game for Canmore since the final game of last season when the Eagles routed the Camrose Kodiaks 7-2.

Kayden Rawji finished the night with three assists, while Bryson Insinger had two assists and a fighting major for his late-game bout with Braeden Veldhuizen. Ethan Look also earned two assists.

Canmore outshot Olds 49-32 with Alex Scheiwiller recording his fifth consecutive win. He has been the bulwark for the Eagles with Hudson Sedo unavailable: first spending two weeks with the WHL Prince Albert Raiders and now part of the Canada West goaltending tandem for the World Junior A Challenge that runs until Dec. 15 in Camrose.

It was another bumper crowd Saturday for Canmore, with 710 fans in attendance.

With the win, Canmore, with a record of 16-7-3-0 for 35 points, moved one point closer to the Calgary Canucks (17-8-1-2 for 37 points), who sit atop the South Division standings with the Eagles having two games in hand. The victory also allowed Canmore to stay ahead of the Camrose Kodiaks (16-8-1-2 for 25 points) by virtue of a better winning percentage.

It will be a busy week for Canmore as the team heads to Olds (10-15-0-0 for 20 points), who are sixth in the South on Tuesday, Dec. 11, bringing the team to the halfway point of the season. The weekend brings a three-game road trip for Canmore, with the first two stops coming against North Division leaders Grande Prairie (18-5-1-1) on Friday, Dec. 13 and Whitecourt (18-6-1-1) on Saturday, Dec. 14. The trip finishes Sunday afternoon in Drayton Valley (9-11-3-2, 4th in the South), with the Thunder having won each of the previous two meetings this season.

Scheiwiller’s five-game personal winning streak, all coming on home ice, has seen only nine shots get past him. He is now 9-4-3 for the season with an ever-improving 2.64 goals-against average and .911 save percentage.

Zach Coutu also attended the Canada West camp but was cut at the end of the three-day trial period. His goal on Saturday, brought the Eagles leading scorer to 27 points (10G-17A), sixth best in the AJHL.

Schlatt (5G-1A) scored just three goals last season in 37 games and those goals came over a two-game span last December, including a two-goal effort against Olds on Dec. 6, 2023.

Insinger’s multi-point game is his first since Jan. 9 when he recorded a goal and an assist against the Calgary Canucks, a stretch of 33 regular-season games, while the fight, stepping up for a hard hit into the boards on Schlatt, was his first in 52 AJHL regular-season contests.

Cleary’s goal was his first since Sept. 27, a stretch of 18 games without a goal and just four assists after being a point-per-game player last season with the Chatham Maroons in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. This season, the Windsor, Ont. native has four goals and seven assists in 24 games with the Eagles.

Canmore’s power play continues to struggle going 0-for-5 against Olds and has just one goal in its last 19 chances over four games, operating at just 14.4 per cent (16/111) for the season.

Canmore was again without Jaren Brinson (ankle) and Cole Wadsworth (shoulder), both are long-term injuries, while Nathan MacPherson-Ridgewell (upper body) and Carter Davis also sat out the game with Olds. Colton Scott of the Calgary Buffaloes U18 was called in again to serve as the backup goaltender.

EAGLES NEST: Tickets for Canmore Eagles’ home games are available at canmoreeagles.ca/tickets. … Canmore home games in December include Drumheller (Friday, Dec. 20) and Grande Prairie (Saturday, Dec. 21). … You can watch Eagles’ games as well as the rest of the AJHL online, along with much more live and on demand sports, through a FloSports subscription available at flohockey.tv.

Russ Ullyot