They’re down, but not out.
The Canmore Eagles still have a slight chance to finish fifth in the AJHL Southern Division and avoid a first round matchup with the troublesome Okotoks Oilers despite sputtering through a winless weekend.
Although they were trounced 7-1 by the Camrose Kodiaks on Friday (Feb. 20) and 5-3 to the Brooks Bandits on Saturday (Feb. 21), the Eagles are still only three points back of the Olds Grizzlys, who have lost three straight.
Both teams have two games left, including Friday’s head-to-head faceoff on Friday at the Alex Kaleta arena.
But following another frustrating loss on Saturday to Brooks, head coach and general manager Andrew Milne said the team’s luck should be ready to turn regardless of whom they face.
“It’s still there to grab, but the math doesn’t work to our advantage. You can’t come down to the last two games of the year. You’ve got to control that earlier. Our focus is going to be the playoffs. If it’s Drumheller, it’s Drumheller. If it’s Okotoks, it’s Okotoks. We’ll prepare for that,” Milne said.
After a poor performance Friday, he praised the Eagles for working hard against Brooks, stating puck luck was the big factor in the loss.
“I thought we played hard and played well. We didn’t get the breaks we deserved. It seems that has been the case a lot this year,” Milne said. “We had a game plan and we stuck to it. You can’t have that bad of puck luck for that length of time. It’s going to revert sometime. We haven’t had puck luck all year, it’s going to come some time and for us it will come in the playoffs.”
Against Brooks, the Eagles battled back after falling behind from 2-0 and 3-1. Brett Radford, Matt Forchuk and Kyle Pauls scored clutch goals for the Eagles to keep them in the game. Brooks then received a fortunate bounce in the third period, and Logan Ferguson missed on a shorthanded breakaway, which decided the game.
“I thought we played hard. I thought our guys played well tonight,” Milne said. “They responded well after last night’s game. We just didn’t get the breaks tonight… It’s not Logan’s fault, but it would have been nice.”
The Eagles played the Calgary Canucks on Wednesday after press deadline, while the Grizzlys still have a game against the Calgary Mustangs.
The puck drops on the final game of the regular season Friday (Feb. 27) at 7 p.m. The AJHL playoffs are scheduled to begin on March 5. Tickets are available through the Eagles website at www.canmoreeagles.ca
