CANMORE – Captain Vincent Scott scored the first two goals of Game 3 on Tuesday (March 14) in Canmore, but the Eagles couldn't hang on and lost 3-2 to first round opponent the Drumheller Dragons.
The Dragons took a 2-1 lead in the AJHL's best-of-seven playoffs series that continues with Game 4 Wednesday (March 15) in Canmore. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
At the end of regulation Drumheller win 3-2. The shots favour the Dragons 29-27. Drumheller are up 2-1 in the first round playoff series.
— Canmore Eagles (@canmoreeagles) March 15, 2023
"We're going to go into [Wednesday] with a pissed off attitude and we're going to come at the them hard," said Scott post-Game 3.
"I think getting up by two and learning how to hold games is important and I think the guys we have in the room are definitely capable of doing that. I think we're a still a pretty young team and that's a lesson we have to learn."
After a scoreless first period, business picked up in the second when the Eagles scored 13 seconds into the period on the power play. Less than four minutes later, Scott buried a rebound in the back of the net to go up 2-0.
The Eagles out shot the Dragons 14-7 at that point, but momentum shifted in favour of the visitors in the second half of the frame. Drumheller's top-scorer Ty Daneault cut the lead in half before the period ended, slipping one past netminder Andreai Proctor-Ramirez.
Proctor-Ramirez kicked aside 26 shots in the game. The 21-year-old from Paradise Hill has a .898 save percentage in the series.
In the third period, the Dragons completed the comeback and quieted the Canmore crowd in the first eight minutes with a pair of goals, including one on the power play.
Canmore had only five shots on net in the third. The Dragons out shot the Eagles 29-27 in the game.
"They came back and kudos to them, but it won't be the same result tomorrow," said Eagles defenceman Brody Tallman.
"We wish we could have got that one, but that's what tomorrow is for. We'll be back, ready to go and it will be a big one for us."
The clashing Junior A hockey clubs split games one and two in Drumheller with the Eagles winning 4-3 on Friday (March 10) and the Dragons taking Saturday’s (March 11) match-up, 5-1.
The series is guaranteed to go to Game 5, which is Friday (March 17) in Drumheller. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
