CANMORE – The holidays weren’t so festive for the Canmore Eagles, with three of its players leaving the club over the break, including a top forward jumping ship to the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL).
Forward Carter Coutu, 19, retired midseason to pursue school and rookie defenceman Carter Davis is looking for more ice time in the United States, but none stung more than the Eagles losing Zach Coutu to the Trail Smoke Eaters.
Zach – twin of Carter – was one of the Eagles top scorers this season, with 11 goals and 29 points in 28 games, and he recently won bronze with Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge.
Amid the club’s best season in decades, Eagles head coach and general manager Andrew Milne said if the BCHL experiment doesn’t work out for Coutu, a reunion isn’t in the cards.
“We’re the first place team in the division going into the break and he’s playing at a top position and [getting] a top opportunity, and if you leave a team like that high and dry without any opportunity to replace that, that’s really difficult for me to go and justify to the guys,” said Milne.
“I think Zach was looking and he thought he might have better exposure playing out in B.C. and … the grass isn’t always greener.”
A significant lure to play in Junior A was a pathway to the NCAA. However, the NCAA sent shockwaves across the landscape last November when it ruled to allow major junior players from Canada to join its teams starting in 2025.
The NCAA hadn’t previously allowed it because it deemed major junior players as semi-professional athletes. As a result, the pyramid hierarchy of hockey leagues are in a battle royale for talent.
Players breaking away from the BCHL to the major juniors squads in the Western Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League, have left the independent league’s deflated teams eyeing top sticks from the Alberta Junior A Hockey League, among others.
“Guys were leaving left, right and centre and they [BCHL] were desperately looking at players and they were heavily recruiting all of our guys with, I think, promises of all sorts of things that are unobtainable but that’s what it was,” said Milne.
“I think that’s something we’re going to have to navigate is this uncertain landscape of where the best opportunities are, and Zach maybe thought the exposure would be better playing in that league.”
As the Eagles look to finish the regular season in good playoff standing, leading-scorer Owen Jones said the team is going to have to “step up” when situations like this occur.
“I hope nothing but the best for the kid, but we’re all here as a team to win and when a guy leaves … it kind of messed us up a little bit, but I think we’re going to be better from it,” he said.
The Outlook reached out to Coutu for comment and will update when possible.
With the exit of three Canmore Eagles right before the Friday (Jan. 9) trade deadline, Milne said the club will make adjustments if opportunities to improve come up.
“I like our team, but I think if we can add something and put ourselves in a better position, we’re going to do that at the deadline,” he said.
Eagles' winning streak ends
The Eagles' four game winning streak was electrocuted by the Drayton Valley Thunder last Saturday (Jab. 4), but the aftershock might have zapped some sense in the local club.
“We can’t take teams lower in the standings lightly,” said Jones. “We just have to play every game the same way … as we do when we play well and we have more work ethic in our game.”
The Eagles were on fire during a 7-2 beat down of the Drumheller Dragons, but the club didn’t bring the same dragon-slaying energy 24 hours later against the sub-.500 Thunder.
Flat through the first two periods, the Eagles caught a spark in the third period with back-to-back goals from Owen Jones to go up 3-2. But with less than 60 seconds on the ticker, and with the Thunder’s net empty, Matthias Bessey’s blueline blast tied things up to send the game to overtime.
In extra time, a controversial play had the Eagles and Canmore crowd vocal as Thunder goaltender Nicholas Cristiano looked to have tripped an Eagles player at the net. However, the ref said to Milne later that the netminder hit the puck first and let go of his stick after that, so no penalty was called.
As time faded in the extra frame, Thunder’s Luke Marley was able skate into the Eagles zone and the defence and then chip in a shot past netminder Hudson Sedo to pick up a 4-3 victory.
“It’s disappointing, but it is what it is,” said Milne.
“We put a target on our backs. We’re the No. 1 team in the league … and other teams are going to be coming in and they’re going to be ready to go and they were ready to go tonight and we weren’t.”
