CANMORE – The Canmore Eagles are still fighting to stay in the Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs.
On Sunday (April 6), the Eagles shut out the Whitecourt Wolverines in a 2-0 win to even up the best-of-seven series at three and send it to a decisive Game 7 Tuesday.
Only 10 seconds into the game, Emanuel Hudson sniped the first goal into the net from the blue line.
“It’s a big helper when you when you're up 1-0 nine,10 seconds going into a game, so it was a big momentum shift for us,” said Brody Tallman, Eagles' defenceman and team captain.
Ethan Look followed up midway through the first period for the final goal of the game.
Eagles' head coach and general manager Andrew Milne said Canmore's first period set the tone and the third saw them shutdown Whitecourt to send the series to a Game 7.
“I thought we had a great first period and played a really solid first and did a lot of good things and then in the second we were on our heels a bunch. They really pushed and the penalties didn't help and then in the third, we did what we had to do and lock it down,” he said.
Canmore goalie Matthew Malin had 21 saves in the shutout and the Eagles had 29 shots on Wolverines' goalie Nicholas Avakyan.
Whitecourt went 0-for-5 on the powerplay, and Canmore went 0-for-1. The Eagles racked up 22 minutes of penalties, while the Wolverines only took in 4 minutes.
In Game 7, on Tuesday (April 9), the Canmore Eagles will be playing on the Wolverines home ice to decide the rest of the series.
The winner will go on to face the Calgary Canucks, who earned their spot in the finals by beating Drumheller Dragons 4-1 in the semifinals after they won 4-2 against Grande Prairie Storm in the quarterfinals.
The Eagles have won two out of six games against the Canucks this season. The Wolverines have beaten Calgary once out of three games in the regular season.
“They're going to come to work Tuesday and we just got to match it,” said Tallman. “It’s gonna be exciting on Tuesday.”
Canmore Eagles shutout the Whitecourt Wolverines 2-0 in Game 6. The series is now 3-3. pic.twitter.com/8WhEqvI8Ip
— Matthew Thompson (@Matthewthomp_) April 8, 2024
