CANMORE – In front of a sellout crowd, the Sportsnet panel and millions at home getting a glimpse of the action, the Canmore Eagles turned the Drumheller Dragons into ash.
The hometown Junior A hockey club survived an early flame show to come back and defeat the visiting rivals 6-2 during Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada on Saturday (Jan. 18) at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
Netminder Alex Scheiwiller picked up win No. 16 of the season, stopping 39 of 41 shots.
Eagles’ Casey Black and Kayden Rawji each had three-point nights, scoring once and adding two helpers. Owen Jones, Jaren Brinson, Rhett Dekowny and Ethan Look all had multi-point games.
In his Eagles debut, Banff-raised Keifer Miller had an assist. Previously with the Spruce Grove Saints of the BCHL, the 19-year-old forward signed with the Eagles for the remainder of the season.
“We gave up two early and wasn’t happy about it,” said 19-year-old defenceman Black. “We wanted to make sure we could win for our town and our team. This has been a big week.”
Caught in a whirlwind of Hockey Day distractions before Saturday’s game, it showed early on the ice for the Eagles.
As the bright lights and cameras of Sportsnet’s hockey panel had live hits in the far corner of the Canmore Recreation Centre, the fiery Dragons had a flame in their eyes. Scorching the ice with bruising body checks and an uptempo game that flustered the hometown club for the first 20 minutes. The heavy hockey strategy sparked a short-handed goal to put the badlands boys up 2-0 going into the first intermission.
The Dragons red hot play cooled in the second period though as the Eagles clawed back into the game with a trio of goals from Look, Bryson Insinger and Nathan Macpherson-Ridgewell.
By the third period, the penalty minutes started racking up against the untamed Dragons – 42 minutes on the night – which included a game misconduct to Ellis Mieyette for checking to the head against Black. A few minutes later, Black returned to the ice, with white medical gauze sticking out of his nose, and scored a slapshot goal from the blue line.
“I wasn’t too happy about it, but I was really happy I could answer there. I was pretty jacked up,” he said.
Despite a week of distractions with Hockey Day in Canada activities around the community, head coach and general manager Andrew Milne gave a lot of credit to the boys for staying in the fight after the rough first period.
“It’s a good team win,” said Milne. “Scheiwiller makes some huge saves at the right time to give us momentum and we had some big goals from veteran guys … I think it tells us that when we play our game, we’re a pretty good team.”
Playing for the Dragons, Canmore-raised Will McLaughlin was held off the score sheet, but the rookie was awarded the visiting team star of the game.
The 16-year-old defenceman said suiting up for the big day in Canmore “meant a lot.”
“Playing in the rink that I grew up playing in and having all my friends and family there watching the game, it meant so much,” said McLaughlin. “It was definitely one of my favourite moments of my hockey career.”
As the circus of Hockey Day is now in the rear-view mirror, the focus for the remainder of the season has turned to the push for the playoffs. Right now, the Eagles hold on to first place in the AJHL standings following the 6-2 victory.
Black said the league championship is “ours to lose at this point.”
The Eagles’ next home game is Friday (Jan. 24) against the league’s second best team, the Whitecourt Wolverines. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
Local Hockey Day results
- Mount Royal Cougars defeat Grant MacEwan Griffins 7-0 (U-Sports)
- Calgary Northwest Flames defeat Airdrie CFR Bisons 7-3 (U18 AAA)
Ball hockey tournament winners
- Banff Bear Cubs win in a shootout against Canmore Eagle Boys 3-2 (U9)
- Utah Yetis beat Rockies Fire and Protection 4-1 (U15)
- Soul of Miistaki beat the Tunerillo’s 1-0 (16+)
