The Canmore Eagles have learned their “other Ryan” is pretty good, too.
Goaltender Ryan Bontorin stopped 35 of 38 shots in the first AJHL game of his career to defeat the Olds Grizzlys 5-3 on Tuesday (Sept. 29) at the Olds Sportsplex.
After switching their goaltending tandem after the first two games of the season, the Eagles have ridden Ryan Gilchrist and Bontorin to four wins in the past five games.
Olds outshot the Eagles by a wide margin, as the Canmore crew managed a paltry 20 shots. But they made the most of those chances, as Kyle Pauls, Brett Radford, Adam Tisdale, Coy Prevost and Lane Olsen all scored for the Eagles.
“Olds did a great job of getting traffic to the net, but Ryan (Bontorin) did an excellent job of battling through it and made some big saves on the night,” said Eagles coach and general manager Andrew Milne. “He was calm throughout the night and did a great job of controlling the puck. I am happy for him because this should give him some added confidence going forward.”
Bontorin, 19, played in Austria last season and was a late addition to the Eagles club. Prevost shone for the Eagles, scoring a shorthanded goal, bringing his points tally to seven in seven games.
“He’s a hound on the puck and he was all over the ice tonight,” Milne said. “I’ve been telling him all year his hard working style will pay off and tonight it did. He is very tenacious out there and it rubs off on the whole team.”
The hard-fought win came as a relief to the club, as it dropped a 5-3 decision to Drumheller on Saturday (Sept. 26). Prevost, Olson and Jake Ashton all scored for the Eagles, while Gilchrist took the lost.
“We got off to a slow start and couldn’t make up for it,” Milne said. “We played much better as the game progressed and had their been one more period, I think we could have won the game. But it was too little, too late. I thought they capitalized on their chances and we didn’t. We had plenty of scoring opportuntities, but just couldn’t convert.”
The team is now off to Camrose for the annual AJHL showcase weekend, where they will play the Grande Prairie Storm and Sherwood Park Crusaders. Grande Prairie only has one win this year, while Sherwood park is 5-2.
Showcase weekend has been death for the Eagles the past four seasons, where they’ve gone a collective 0-8 under the watchful eye of scouts from across North America. But Milne believes the Eagles have enough new faces to make a difference this year.
“The showcase weekend has certainly not been kind to us lately, but this is a new year with new players and I like the way we are playing as we head up there,” he said. “Our veterans will also change our fortunes. We’re ready to go and look forward to the challenge of playing some northern division teams.”
The Eagles are back home on Tuesday (Oct. 6) against Camrose.
