CANMORE – The season is over for the Canmore Eagles, but one hometown boy is moving on to the next round.
The Eagles were swept in four games by the powerhouse Brooks Bandits, the top team in the AJHL, in the second round of the AJHL playoffs, with the series scores 7-1; 8-5; 9-2; and 7-1.
"They're obviously good: No. 1 team in the country, highest scoring team in god knows how long, the history of time, they've got defencemen with 110 points, I mean they're good. They're very good," said Andrew Milne, Eagles head coach and general manager.
"Then to take our time into that series and [Cale] Lyons and [Drae] Gardiner played 30 minutes a night for seven games [against the Camrose Kodiaks] with travel – they were just spent. Not having Lane Paddison, not having [Riley] Dekowny for those first two games, not having Kayden Smith, that hurt us a lot. We weren't deep enough that we could contend with those guys over a course of a series and let alone after playing a hard-fought seven."
During the series, which ended March 23, a familiar face made the walk to the visitor's bench twice at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
Brooks Bandits assistant coach Evan McFeeters, who's from Canmore, said it was a different experience trying to shut down his former club.
For five seasons, McFeeters was an assistant coach and assistant general manager of the Eagles. In 2020, he accepted the coaching role with the Bandits, where he's been for two seasons.
"It felt so different walking across to the visitor bench after being on the home bench for so many years," he said. "Seeing a lot of the friends and family and everyone I have relationships with back in the Bow Valley in the building again, and the excitement for playoff hockey in Canmore was great, but it was different not having that hometown support. But everyone back in Canmore, they've always been so supportive of me and my aspirations in hockey that I was very happy to be able to play some playoff games in Canmore and re-connect with everybody."
The second-round matchup between Canmore and Brooks was McFeeters first time on the other side in an Eagles playoff series. McFeeters had experience working with six Eagles still on the team from his tenure and said Milne is a good friend and mentor.
"At the time, I got to do my job and prepare my team as if they're any other opponent, but when you step into the Canmore rec centre and you see everybody, you do get that extra bit of juice and motivation because I would love to still be in Canmore, but there was an opportunity here in Brooks that I couldn't pass up, so it did feel good to move on."
The Eagles were coming off a huge Game 7 win against the Kodiaks two days prior to starting against Brooks.
The Bandits, which led the AJHL in goals with 371, started ablaze against Canmore, scoring five times in the first period of Game 1.
"We wanted to really set the tone for the whole series in that first period and I think it was mission accomplished. We were able to build and adjust from there," said McFeeters.
"I think going through Canmore was good for me, personally, and to see everyone, but now we got to focus on moving to the next round and accomplishing what we set out at the start of the season, to do."
The Bandits play the Okotoks Oilers in the south finals starting April 8.
Eagles named to All AJHL, Rookie teams
Canmore Eagles Andreai Proctor-Ramirez was named to the All-AJHL south division team, and Matthew Malin to the All-Rookie south division team, the league announced this week.
Proctor-Ramirez, 20, who was also named a finalist for goaltender of the year, had a record of 19-23-6 and two shutouts with a 3.79 goals against average and .898 save percentage.
He faced the second most shots in the league (1,477) and made the second most saves (1,326).
With the team this season, Proctor-Ramirez won 13 player of the game awards.
During his first season with the club, Malin, 18, went 4-10-3 with a 3.64 goals against average and .900 save percentage.
In 23 games, Malin faced 742 shots – 120 less than Brooks Bandits goalie Ethan Barwick, who played in 39 games.
He won four player of the game awards.
Both goalies are returning to the Eagles next season.
Players are selected to the teams by the league's general managers and coaches.
