For whatever reason, the Canmore Eagles do not like playing under the spotlight of the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s annual Showcase Event held annually in Spruce Grove, Alberta.
With more than 300 US and Canadian college scouts in attendance to watch the 16 AJHL games played over the three day extravaganza, the Eagles once again lost both of their games as they dropped a 5-1 decision to the Calgary Canucks on Friday afternoon, after losing 4-3 to the Whitecourt Wolverines on Thursday.
It marked the third consecutive year that the Eagles have gone 0-2 at the Showcase.
The Eagles also lost a couple of key players to injury during the event as defenceman Jakob Lavoie went down with an ankle injury during Thursday’s game and captain Nils Moser appeared to suffer a serious knee injury during Friday’s loss.
After starting the season with an impressive 3-1 record, the Eagles have now lost four consecutive games during the past week and now sit with a 3-5 record after eight games.
“We obviously have a lot of work to do to turn this thing around right now,” said Eagles Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne. “We started the season with some early success and I think the boys got a sense of over-confidence that things would come easy for them this year. Well, after the last four games, they better get their heads back in the game and come ready to play.”
“We have the ingredients of a solid team here right now but everyone better be mentally and physically prepared to play 60 minutes every night regardless of which team we are playing. Believe me, practice time is not going to be fun time this week.“
Canmore’s next game is Tuesday night, October 1st when the Spruce Grove Saints pay their annual visit to the Canmore Recreation Centre. Game time is 7 PM.
NOTEBOOK – Trey Phillips had the lone Eagle goal in Friday’s loss to the Canucks and was named the Eagles “Star of the Game”. . . .Luke Simpson, who is trying to track down a US scholarship, had a solid weekend at the Showcase event picking up three points in Thursday’s game and was a solid force in Friday’s game. Simpson leads the Eagles in scoring with 10 points in 8 games, including 7 goals.
