Last week, head coach Andrew Milne joked his team was so young and naďve, that perhaps they weren’t aware of how nervous they should be for a back-to-back series against the Brooks Bandits.
Consider the Eagles educated.
The Eagles were pummeled 11-2 in their home opener by the Brooks Bandits on Friday night and followed that up with a 6-2 loss on the road on Saturday. Weak goaltending, an anemic power play and bad penalties sunk the Eagles on Friday, although head coach and general manager Andrew Milne said the score wasn’t reflective of his team’s overall effort.
“At times, I don’t think it was that bad. It wasn’t an 11-2 game. We had a midget AA guy start against one of the best teams in the league and unfortunately they picked him apart,” Milne said.
Brooks didn’t waste any time jumping on the Eagles club, scoring their first goal just over a minute into the game, and added another at the eight-minute mark. Lane Olson scored the team’s first goal of the season, with Brett Schimmel and Braden Saretsky picking up assists. After the goal, the Eagles began to calm down and settle into their play. In the second period, the Bandits, who had played 11 exhibition games to the Eagles two, unleashed their offensive weapons. They scored two shorthanded goals off the rush to run the score to 4-1. However before they could mount a comeback, with Matt Forchuk in the box for tripping, Olson took a selfish spearing penalty, which sunk the Eagles. Milne called the play selfish and dumb.
“That’s completely the opposite of what we talked about in the room. We know they’ve got a good power play. This is their 11th game of the year. They’ve played together a lot,” Milne said.
Brooks scored twice on the ensuing power play, and added another late power play marker to end goaltender Hunter Virostek’s night. Clark Flegel started in net in the third, and let in four goals on 12 shots. The team released him after the game. Brett Radford tipped in a point shot from Jonas Gordan to finish the Eagles scoring.
The following night, newly signed goaltender Ryan Gilchrist got the start in net, giving up six goals on 34 shots. Gilchrist was a late cut from the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds, and the 17-year-old, 6’4” goaltender will likely get another start this week.
Milne said the result was a learning experience for the team, as many of the young players were thrown into the fire on the power play and penalty kill.
“We got a lot of guys learning the league. We didn’t ease them into it. This is the pace we have to play at all year to be successful. You don’t win championships in one game. If you are going to learn a lesson, then do it in Game One,” Milne said. “This is not the team you will see this year, but we played better than an 11-2 game.”
Newly named captain Jakob Lavoie said if the bounces had gone the other way, the Eagles may have had a more respectable result.
“We were all over them in the first. They got some lucky bounces. We didn’t. That’s the story,” Lavoie said. “There isn’t much you can say. You just hope you get the bounces.”
Team speed and competitiveness is something Lavoie said the team did display. He said the they just has to keep pushing when the team is down.
“We can easily keep up with any team. We showed that in the first. You’ve got to keep at them,” Lavoie said.
The Eagles are back in action in Calgary on Thursday (Sept. 17) when they play the Calgary Mustangs. They are back at home on Saturday night, when they play the Drumheller Dragons. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
