CANMORE – Coming off a 6-1 win over Calgary Canucks last Friday (Oct.25), the Eagles took the nation’s top junior club – the Brooks Bandits – to a shootout at the Canmore Rec Centreon Tuesday (Oct. 29) night.
“We were able to steal a point against them [Brooks] tonight, which not many teams do. It would have been nice to get the two points,” said Eagles captain Tian Rask.
The Eagles grabbed the first lead of the game 15 minutes into the opening frame, courtesy of Rask. Defenceman Carter Coles knocked down a Brooks clearance attempt at the blue line and fed the puck to Tristan Zandee for a one-timer.
Zandee’s shot attempt was deflected and found its way on to a wide open Rask, who made no mistake burying his sixth goal of the season past the Bandits' Pierce Charleson.
Despite the Eagles effective press throughout the first period, the Bandits capitalized on a pair of errors by Eagles defencemen. Florida-import, Randy Hernandez scored a pair of goals 41 seconds apart, off Eagles turnovers, beating starter Kadin Kilpatrick both times through the five hole.
“We fell asleep there in the first for a minute and it cost us,” said Eagle head coach Andrew Milne.
Brooks opened up a two goal lead four minutes into the second period when TJ Hughes wired a wrist shot past the left ear of Kilpatrick, who made his third consecutive start for the Eagles.
Alex Young extended his point streak to seven games when he scored his 14th of the season, just over a minute after the Bandits third. Young’s marker restored the energy on the Eagles bench and they produced three more scoring chances in the frame. Heading into the final 20 minutes the Eagles found themselves trailing the Bandits by one goal.
Young added his second of the game, notting up the game at three.
The Bandits grabbed the lead once more, capitalizing on the man advantage.
“I give the guys credit, they didn’t give up out there, they battled right to the end.” said Milne.
With Kilpatrick pulled for an extra attacker, the Eagles found an equalizer with just over a minute left in the game.
“Lyno [Connor Lyons] made a great play and got a shot away. It bounced off my shin pad and someone else's too. It was a lucky play, but was fortunate to put it in,” said Rask about his second of the game.
Both teams traded chances in overtime, but ultimately the game was decided by shootout, where the Bandits were able to earn the extra point.
“This game showed us that we can compete against any team, and I think it will give us a lot of confidence going forward,” said defenceman Jared Bowman.
