CANMORE – Hot stuff coming through.
The Canmore Eagles are flying high after three straight victories and the junior A club is hunting for more Thursday (Oct. 12) at home against the Grande Prairie Storm. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
A slow start to the season has been erased following a northeastern road swing where the Eagles reigned supreme. Over three days (Oct. 6-8), the Eagles clawed out victories over the Bonnyville Pontiacs (4-3), Lloydminster Bobcats (5-4), and Camrose Kodiaks (3-2).
“We started the Bonnyville game and things went really well for us in the first shift where we scored,” said head coach and general manager Andrew Milne. “I think when kids have confidence and they feel good about themselves, good things will happen and I think that's what happened.”
With today being a day off feel free to check out some of the highlights from this weekends sweep. Three wins in three nights for the Eags 🍿🍿🍿
— Canmore Eagles (@canmoreeagles) October 9, 2023
Back at it this a Thursday with @GPStorm in town!https://t.co/T1m3IMQRN1
An encouraging sign for the Eagles during their hot streak is its special teams stats shooting up league standings.
The team’s power play went 37.5 per cent during the northern swing, pushing the year’s stat up by eight per cent to 18.9 per cent to eighth in the league. The penalty kill was very strong, too, at 90 per cent efficiency, shooting the club’s overall percentage up to 81.6 and seventh in the league.
Milne said the special teams were a big part of our weekend success, but he also thinks the boys earned the success.
“That’s how you win hockey games, when your special teams are good,” said Milne, adding the 19 penalties the team took were too many. “The positive side is when that happens, they get rewarded and then they realize when they do it the right way, it works out for them.”
The Eagles also gained ground in goal differential following a visit to the AJHL’s basement in September, which is now up to 13th spot at -14.
Goalies Matthew Malin had two victories and rookie John MacPherson picked up his first AJHL victory between the pipes.
In front of the net, veteran defenceman Emanuel Hudson had five assists, while new signee Josh Hoekstra had a goal and two helpers, his first points with the club.
Scoring remains slow though, with captain Brody Tallman leading the way with five goals and seven points. No Eagles are in the top 50 for scoring.
However, with 12 goals over the past three games, the Eagles matched their output in the previous six games.
“It’s trending in the right direction,” Milne said.
“I think when you look at the weekend, we scored a lot of rebound goals, a lot of goals driving the net and a lot of goals putting the pucks to the net with traffic.
“We’re going to continue to see our goal production go up because we know we’ve got skill in our locker room. We’ve just got to use it the right way.”
The Eagles go for a season high fourth-straight win against the Storm.
