In the Eagles home opener at the newly renovated Canmore Rec Centre, Drumheller opened up the scoring on the man advantage, thanks to a Miles Hilman shot from the high slot.
The Eagles new signing Kadin Kilpatrick got the nod in goal. Eagles head coach Andrew Milne said it was an easy decision to start Kilpatrick after his impressive debut in Grande Prairie last weekend.
“It was a nice push of confidence for me to get the start since it was the home opener. I feel like the guys are starting to trust me back there,” said Kilpatrick.
After giving up the first goal, the Winnipeg native kept the Eagles in the game with a number of big saves.
Alex Young kept up his hot start to the season with a power play marker to tie up the game. Last week's AJHL player of the week, Conor Lyons made a nifty cross-ice pass from the blue line to captain, Tian Rask who was foiled by the Dragons goaltender Cale Elder. Young was able to corral the rebound and put away his 11th of the season, tying the game at one after one period of play.
Canmore carried the momentum gained from the first goal into the second and took the game to Drumheller. After being slashed on a breakaway, Young was awarded a penalty shot and made no mistake ripping a snap shot over Elder’s left shoulder for the lead.
Drumheller levelled the score once more on the power play. Kaden Hanas buried a rebound from the slot while on a five-on-three.
The Eagles continued to press on the forecheck and Lyons was able to capitalize on a wrap around to once more give the Eagles a one goal lead. The Dragon fought back in the third and controlled most of the play. Early in the third Kobe Mohr danced around an Eagles defenceman and beat Kilpatrick to tie the game at three.
Midway through the third, the play opened up and both teams traded chances on the rush. Kilpatrick made a huge windmill glove save with four minutes left to force overtime.
“I knew the guy was coming in on the half wing and I was able to square off and get a glove on it,” recalled Kilpatrick.
In the extra frame the Eagles Max Giangualano, who has struggled to find the net this season, created multiple scoring chances and hit the post twice on separate occasions.
“Tonight was a night where he was flying, he should have had a hat trick tonight,” said Milne.
After one of Giangualano’s rushes the Dragons turned the play back up ice and ended the game, 4-3.
“I made the initial save on the breakaway and got dragged out of the net by one of our players. And they were able to bury it in the empty net, there’s not much I could really do about it,” Kilpatrick said.
The Eagles will turn their focus towards the Calgary Canucks when they host them on Friday (Oct. 25) evening.
