After resting several key players for the past two weeks, preaching patience and post-season possibilities, the Eagles face off against the fourth-place Drumheller Dragons in the first round of the AJHL playoffs on the road Wednesday and Thursday (March 7-8) and at home on Saturday and Sunday (March 9-10) if needed.
In a best-of-five matchup, Coach Andrew Milne likes his team’s chances against the Dragons, although he said his team is ready for all comers.
“At the beginning of the year if you would have asked me if we could play Drumheller in the first round, I would have taken it. We think we’ve got an opportunity to be successful no matter who we play. They’re going to bring their game, we know what they have to offer and we know what we have to offer,” Milne said.
In terms of matchups, the teams split the season series with three wins each, with Drumheller holding a large 211-158 shot advantage. Riley Point and Zack Rassell were the Eagles’ best Dragon slayers, scoring 11 and 10 points against Drumheller respectively, while Ryan Bloom and Bryton Mills racked up 16 points combined against the Eagles. Both teams ticked along at 79 per cent on the penalty kill, while the Dragons’ power play proved to be more effective, clocking in at 19.8 per cent efficiency versus 17.6 per cent for the Eagles.
Milne believes containing the Drumheller defence will be the key to victory for his Eagles and he’ll have several big bodies back in the lineup to make that happen. Nils Moser returned to action for the team’s last game of the season and Simon Philp continues to improve his play.
“Their back end creates a lot of offence. We’re going to limit their defence from becoming involved with the rush and I think that’s a big part of our success. Dumping in pucks, chipping pucks will be a big part of our success,” Milne said.
When the Eagles forecheck and cycle the puck, they’ve traditionally had success.
“We think down low, they do a good job of containing. They have guys that want to jump up and join the rush and don’t want to be in their own end. The more we can get them to play defence, the better we’ll be,” Milne said.
That means Canmore’s big forwards, namely Moser, Luke Simpson and Alex Bechtold, will see a lot of ice time, generating chances against Drumheller.
“We can grind the puck down low all night with the big bodies we have,” Milne said. “A goal of ours is to keep the puck low.”
The Dragons play a physical brand of hockey, with seven of their players earning more than 100 penalty minutes this season. The Eagles only had one player this season with over 100 penalty minutes: Bryan Arneson.
Following the last game of the season, Milne hadn’t decided which goalie would start in the playoffs, but noted Ty Swabb has more experience as a 20-year-old than Cam Barnes at 19.
Captain Riley Point said the Eagles are better than a fifth-place team and will prove that in the playoffs.
“With who we’re matched up against, we’re happy with fifth. Having our lineup the whole year, we wouldn’t have been in this position. I think the potential would have been much higher,” Point said.
The team had a full lineup in their final game of the season, a 5-4 overtime win over the Calgary Canucks. It was the first time the Eagles had a full lineup since the seventh game of the season. Point thinks a full Eagles team matches up well against Drumheller.
“We like our chances with them. They have a strong D core. We went into the game (against Calgary) wanting to play Drumheller. We match up even,” Point said.
“Having four lines back will help a lot. We play a style that’s in your face and aggressive and without four lines that’s hard to do sometimes,” he said.
“Attacking their defence on the forecheck will be huge.”
Looking back at the year, Point said it’s been full of surprises.
“It’s been a wild one. I’ve never played on a team with so many streaks. It’s built a lot of character,” Point said.
The final line on the Eagles’ regular season is 24-30-6, good enough for fifth place in the southern division. They finished nine points behind Drumheller and got some help last week when the Dragons were penalized for using an illegal goalie against Canmore, hence forfeiting their points. Milne believes they’re destined for more.
“It’s a winnable series for us. They had a better record than us so we’re going to have our hands full. I think it’s going to come down to special teams and our ability to bang bodies,” Milne said.
