2013-14 EAGLE SEASON IN REVIEW
(Photo courtesy of Julie Wilson)
Although the Canmore Eagles have been officially eliminated from the AJHL playoffs, the 2013-14 hockey season will go down in the history books as a very successful campaign for the Rocky Mountain based Junior A hockey franchise.
Here is a brief list of the club’s accomplishments during the past year.
1) The Eagles finished the 2013-2014 season with a record of 32-25-3, their best finish since the 2002-03 season. The club was an impressive 21-7-1 on home ice during the regular season.
2) For the first-time since Mark Bomersback won the award back in 2002-03, the Eagle’s featured the AJHL’s “Most Valuable Player” as defenceman Trey Phillips claimed the prestigious award in 2013-14. Phillips, in his fourth-year in an Eagle sweater, truly blossomed this season scoring 25 goals and adding 40 assists to lead the Eagles in scoring. Phillips was also named as the AJHL’s “Top Defenceman”.
3) Eagle goaltender Ryan Ferguson turned in an impressive rookie performance in 2013-14 as he posted a 24-14-2 regular season record, a Goals Against Average of just 2.58, and a Save Percentage of .922. He was also named the AJHL’s All-Star rookie netminder and was named to the Southern Division all-star team.
4) The Canmore Eagles were very successful in their quest to provide a place to play for local hockey talent as the club had SEVEN Canmore boys on their active roster including Nils Moser, John Stevens, Luke Simpson, Simon Philp, Jeremy Gordon, Kyle Pauls and Roman Melzer. You would be hard pressed to find two home-grown players on any other AJHL roster.
5) Attendance levels continue to improve at the Canmore Recreation Centre as more than 15,000 fans came out to attend home games this year. That’s a 43% increase from the 10,654 that attended games during the 2011-12 season. With the recent granting of a “Stadium Liquor Licence”, we anticipate even better attendance in the years to come.
6) The Eagles hosted four playoff games in 2014 and went 3-1, including a thrilling two-game home sweep of the Camrose Kodiaks in the first-round of the Southern Division playoffs.
7) With their recent “on-ice” success, the Canmore Eagle Junior A franchise is now being looked upon as a “GO-TO” location for perspective hockey players looking to play in the AJHL. Under the steady management of Head Coach and General Manager Andrew Milne and Asst. GM/Coach Jeremy Reich, the club's active roster remained virtually intact throughout the entire season. Only one player was traded by the Eagles in 2013-14 and that was back to his home town of Calgary. With schooling playing an important role in Junior Hockey, players are looking for stability in their lives and playing for Canmore provides just that.
8) Although the Eagles will lose the services of seven 20-year-old players, the team could return as many as 17 players to their roster for the 2014-15 season. Offensively, the club will be led by veteran forwards Connor Wilson (57 pts), Jordan Revie (20 goals), Simon Philp (20 goals), and Joe Serpico (17 goals), while veteran defenceman Nikolas Kosman, Jakob Lavoie, Jeremy Gordon and Ashton McLeod could also return. The Eagles also featured several promising rookies in their lineup during the past campaign and look forward to increased production from returning forwards Kurt Hildebrand, Brett Radford, Lane Olson, Kyle Pauls and Ryley Risling and defenceman Brett Schimmel and Roman Melzer. Goaltending should also remain very strong as both Ryan Ferguson and Cam Barnes are eligible to return.
9) Special thanks to all the volunteers, sponsors, billet families and fans who made this season such a great success. The Canmore Eagles are a community owned, not for profit hockey club and we simply couldn't do it without your help and support.
10) And finally, the Eagles would like to say “thank you” and “good luck” to our seven graduating 20-year-old players including Nils Moser, John Stevens, Luke Simpson, Trey Phillips, Jeremy Margeson, Austen Hebert and Bryan Arneson. You all played your hearts out for the Eagles and you should be very proud of your accomplishments.
