Your playoff primer

The Canmore Eagles are preparing for a playoff run that they hope will be like no other in the club’s history.

The Eagles, first-place finishers in the Alberta Junior Hockey League South Division, will take on the Calgary Canucks, looking to follow a similar path that their first-round opponent took last spring.

Calgary finished first in the South Division last season, won the league championship – its second successive title – and then went on to win the Centennial Cup, the national championship of junior A hockey for Canada.

Should Canmore repeat Calgary’s success it would be the best experience ever for the franchise, which has finished first in the South twice (2001-02 and 2002-03) but has not yet played in a league championship series.

Canmore won 32 of its 55 games and finished with 68 points as Andrew Milne surpassed 1,000 games as the team’s head coach over the past 18 seasons.

Calgary won 25 games for 55 points and changed its head coach three times. Geoff Rollins took over the helm with three games remaining in the regular season from Mat Robinson, who came into the team on the eve of the regular season to replace Jay Pylpuik, who was named the team’s bench boss following Brad Moran’s departure after culminating seven successful seasons with a Centennial Cup championship.

The best-of-seven-series begins Friday, March 20, 7 p.m. at the Canmore Recreation Centre.

Game 1 – Calgary at Canmore, Friday, March 20 (Canmore Recreation Centre, 7 p.m.);

Game 2 – Calgary at Canmore, Saturday, March 21 (Canmore Recreation Centre, 7 p.m.);

Game 3 – Canmore at Calgary, Tuesday, March 24 (Ken Bracko Arena, 7 p.m.)

Game 4 – Canmore at Calgary, Wednesday, March 25 (Ken Bracko Arena, 7 p.m.)

(if necessary)

Game 5 – Calgary at Canmore, Friday, March 27 (Canmore Recreation Centre, 7 p.m.)

Game 6 – Canmore at Calgary, Sunday, March 29 (Ken Bracko Arena, 5 p.m.)

Game 7 – Calgary at Canmore, Tuesday, March 31 (Canmore Recreation Centre, 7 p.m.)

This will the first playoff meeting between these two franchises despite being in the same division since the Eagles joined the AJHL in the 1995-06 season. The team was known as the Bow Valley Eagles through the 2000-01 season. Calgary has been a member of the AJHL since the 1984-85 season and won its first of two national championships in 1995.

Records: Canmore 32-19-3-1, 68 points, 1st in the South; Calgary 25-25-3-2, 55 points, 4th in the South. Home – Canmore 19-7-2-0, Calgary 19-7-1-1. Away – Canmore 13-12-1-1, Calgary 6-18-2-1.

Goals for: Canmore 209 (Cohen Daoust 31, Aidan Tkachuk 29, John Szabo 23); Calgary 191 (Harper LoLacher 41, Connor Radke 25, Grant Reid 19).

Goals Against: Canmore 170 (Alex Scheiwiller 22-12-2-1, 2.91, .921, Hudson Sedo 10-7-1-2, 3.14, .905); Calgary 195 (Noah Nelson 15-14-2-0, 3.13, .905, Dimitri Fortin 4-6-2-2, 3.51, .897).

Penalty Minutes: Canmore 1,066 (power play – 24.8% 63 goals, penalty killing – 77.9% 47 goals allowed); Calgary 993 (power play – 22.8% 50 goals, penalty killing – 76.7% 47 goals allowed). Shorthanded goals – Canmore 0, Calgary 3.

Top Scorers: Canmore – Daoust 31G-44A—75Pts, Tkachuk 29G-41A—70Pts, Szabo 23G-31A—54Pts, Will Lutic 15G-33A—48Pts, Hudson Landmark 11G-28A—39Pts; Calgary – LoLacher 41G-28A—69Pts, Radke 25G-31A—56Pts, Reid 19G-24A—43Pts, Riley Bracko 13G-27A—40Pts, Wade Wallace 3G-34A—37Pts.

Power-Play Points: Canmore – Daoust 10G-18A—28Pts, Szabo 10G-18A—28Pts, Tkachuk 13G-14A-27Pts, Lutic 5G-12A—17Pts, Landmark 4G-10A—14Pts; Calgary – LoLacher 12G-9A—21Pts, Radke 7G-12A—19Pts, Wallace 0G-18A—18Pts, Nicholas Anisimovicz 8G-7A—15Pts, Reid 4G-9A—13Pts.

Canmore: 4-2-0-0 (GF-25, GA-23).

Calgary: 2-4-0-0 (GF-23, GA-25).

Sept. 20: Eagles 3 at Canucks 5 – Reid had three goals, including one into an empty net, and one assist as Calgary overcame a 2-0 deficit.

Nov. 1: Eagles 4 at Canucks 3 – Daoust set up three goals as Canmore scored four consecutive goals after trailing 2-0 after the first period.

Dec. 6: Eagles 3 at Canucks 7 – Lolacher had two goals and one assist as Calgary scored seven consecutive goals after falling behind 1-0 inside the opening three minutes. Canmore rookie Easton Milne scored twice.

Jan. 3: Canucks 3 at Eagles 6 – Tkachuk scored twice and Daoust had four assists with the talking point being a pair of late third-period brawls that saw 176 penalty minutes and six player suspensions handed out. The lengthiest suspension went to Canmore’s Miller Komarniski, who was given a six-game ban for returning to the ice, while Calgary’s Dreyton Aleman and Ben Binder-Nord each received five-game bans for their actions.

Jan. 16: Canucks 2 at Eagles 4 – Daoust had another four-point game (1G-3A) and Tkachuk finished with two goals and one assist and the team got a 48-save performance from Scheiwiller.

Feb. 12: Canucks 3 at Eagles 5: Canmore scored the first five goals, including four in the opening period. Szabo had two goals and Daoust had one goal and two assists. Adam M’Hamed scored twice for Calgary.

Power Plays: Canmore 24% (6 goals); Calgary 30.4% (7 goals).

South semifinal: 2. Drumheller Dragons (28-20-2-5) vs 3. Camrose Kodiaks (28-24-2-1).

North semifinals: 1. Whitecourt Wolverines (39-13-1-2) vs 4. Fort McMurray Oil Barons (30-17-6-2); 2. Grande Prairie Storm (38-15-0-2) vs 3. Lloydminster Bobcats (34-14-4-3).

OVERTIME: Playoff tickets are on sale on the Canmore Eagles website. canmoreeagles.ca/tickets. … You can also follow the Canmore Eagles at home and on the road throughout the playoffs with your local broadcast team – Russ Ullyot (play-by-play) and Zach Ahmin (colour analyst) – at flohockey.tv. … The Eagles are in need of volunteers to help with game day experiences, email info@canmoreeagles.com for more information on opportunities and perks that come with being part of the Game Day Crew.