It promises to be a very ghoulish Halloween for the Canmore Eagles with back-to-back home games against the 13-2-2 Camrose Kodiaks on Friday (Oct. 31) and Saturday (Nov. 1).
The Eagles offence has done its best invisible man impression as of late, and they’ll need to return from the dead if they want any chance of defeating the toughest defence in the league. The Kodiaks have only allowed 34 goals in 17 games this season and have yet to lose on the road in regulation.
Coming off a 2-1 loss to the Okotoks Oilers (Oct. 24) and a 5-2 defeat to the Bonnyville Pontiacs (Oct. 25), the Eagles bounced back with a 5-4 overtime win Monday (Oct. 27) over the lowly Calgary Mustangs, where head coach and general manager Andrew Milne was happy to get the win in a sloppy game.
Team defence suffered in order to score more goals, which isn’t typical Eagles hockey, he said. “It certainly wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win. We’ve been struggling a little bit lately, so it’s nice to finally put two points up in the standings.
“It was a sloppy game overall and we certainly didn’t play the way we wanted to. We ended up playing a run and gun style of game, and that’s not the way our club needs to play to be successful.”
The Eagles powered up the offence early against the Mustangs at Father David Bauer arena, as Connor Wilson got back on track with his sixth goal of the season at the 10-minute mark. The Mustangs responded right away, but Simon Philp earned a shorthanded marker to give the Eagles the lead at the end of the first.
Defenceman Kevin Wolf scored his first of the year in the second period to establish a two-goal lead, but the Mustangs refused to relent. They scored three straight goals to take the lead in the third period, and the Eagles appeared poised to take their third loss in a row.
But Jordan Revie scored on the powerplay, breathing life into the Eagles, and Kurt Hildebrand was the overtime hero. Ryan Ferguson stopped 28 of 32 shots for the win.
The win also helped take the sting out of a couple of injuries the Eagles have accumulated. Wolf fell on rookie goaltender Levi Nelson during Saturday’s loss to the Pontiacs. Nelson passed out in pain on the ice, but a feared broken leg turned out to be a high ankle sprain. Calgarian Adam Marcoux, 16, has been called up to act as Ferguson’s backup.
The ever-reliable Jakob Lavoie is also on the shelf. He missed the past two games with an ankle injury, and will have an MRI before the Kodiaks match-up to determine the extent of his injury.
