CANMORE – Even a top-10 nationally ranked team can’t win ‘em all.
The Canmore Eagles dropped their third straight game after the local junior A hockey club lost 3-0 against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Tuesday (Nov. 5) at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
It’s the season’s first losing streak for the club, which until recently, had been on a tear.
“There’s a lot of pressure when you see the national rankings come out and we’re eighth in the nation (now ranked 13th) and it went to a couple of guys’ heads and we got a little bit too big for ourselves and we didn’t realize we got that with work,” said Eagles head coach and general manager Andrew Milne.
“That’s fine. We’ll face some adversity and we’ll get back with the right opportunity.”
Absent from the Eagles’ lineup on Tuesday were veteran players Owen Jones and Jaren Brinson, both out with injuries. Key players in the rotation, Brinson is a calming presence when things get hairy in the backend, while Jones is an important contributor on offence with 11 points in 15 games.
It was also the Eagles’ first game back on home ice since Oct. 13 due to an extended five-game road trip that stretched out when the team had a long break between their first two games (Oct. 19-20) and last three (Nov. 1-3).
On paper, it was a successful northern swing in Fort McMurray, Bonnyville and Camrose, with the team going 3-1-1; however, the Eagles dropped the last two games of the trip. After Tuesday’s loss, Milne said the team was jet-lagged by the end of it.
“To be crystal clear, that road trip is a difficult one. You go up north for three games and two and a half days and the bodies we had [Jones] goes out, [Brinson] goes out, [Cole Wadsworth] goes out, those are three big pieces of the puzzle, especially early in the season when you’re trying to learn,” said Milne.
“With that being said, it’s an opportunity for others to step up and for others to be better in certain situations.”
New Eagles’ captain Rhett Dekowny said playing simple hockey will help the boys get back on track.
“Adversity is good at this time in the year. It’s going to help us through the long run in April and May so it’s good now and we just got to keep fighting and we’ll get through it.”
The Eagles (11-4-2) are currently third place in the AJHL and sitting first in the southern conference.
The Eagles are back home Friday (Nov. 8) against the Whitecourt Wolverines. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
