WOW. I don’t even know where to start this week. First off, I guess, is to correct last week’s article. Last week’s article was written by Kent Wing, not Lee Kemp. Kent has been filling in for Lee when he has had other obligations that do not allow him the time to submit the weekly update on time.
Friday night the Chinook Hockey League Board of Directors made a special presentation to our league president, Ray Marsh. Ray has been the president of the CHL for over 40 years. As the last remaining original team of the CHL, Eagles General Manager Lee Kemp presented the rest of the league’s managers with the idea of presenting Ray his first- ever CHL Jacket. The Eagles’ Lee Kemp along with Bentley’s Jason Lenz, the Eagles’ Captain Kelly Rogers, Bentley’s Captain Sean Robertson, and Senior Council Chairman Kim Marsh made the jacket presentation to Ray before Friday’s game and in front of his family. We hope that Ray can sport his new jacket with pride as he enters the arenas of our league.
The boys had worked hard in practice last week on a new system in preparation for the battle with Bentley. It was evident in the first period that they weren’t going to go down lightly in front of their hometown crowd. The system that the boys had put into place seemed to work well as they managed to hold the Generals to only one goal in the first period.
Two minutes into the second period ex-Red Deer Rebel Scott Doucet slipped one past Eagles netminder Wade Waters to put the Gens up 2-0. The Eagles were able to answer back seven minutes later when veteran defenceman Scott Kallis was able to spring Kent Wing on a break for his first goal of the season, pulling the Birds within one. Unfortunately, the Gens would answer back with two more goals in the second frame to go ahead 4-1 after 40 minutes of play.
The third period showed lots of emotion and the boys played their hearts out, but were bested by a stronger, more skilled team in the Generals. Bentley scored two more goals in the third to go up 6-1. Scott Murphy was able to convert on a pass from Sean Neumeier to put the Birds down 6-2.
Bentley appeared shaken by the hard work of the Eagles and the heart they showed. The last 10 minutes of the game was a downright battle between the two teams, with lots of feistiness from both sides.
Saturday afternoon the boys loaded up the bus to make the road trip up to Fort Saskatchewan to face off against the Chiefs. The bus was a little light due to work commitments and a couple of injuries.
The game started out slowly and lacking emotion from both sides. The Birds appeared to have a bad case of bus legs, or it was the short bench that took its toll on them. Sadly the boys weren’t able to generate anything all night and would be bested 11-1 by the Chiefs. Drew Coles was the lone goal scorer for the Birds, with the assist going to Colton Sutter, on a weird dump in that hit the glass and bounced straight across the Chiefs’ crease and deflected off the tender’s foot.
The next challenge for the Eagles is another set of away games next weekend. Friday night the Eagles will travel up the road to Sylvan for the first time this season. Saturday night the boys will board the bus once again for their last trip to Stony Plain of the season. The Eagles’ next home game will be Friday December 3rd against the Stony Plain Eagles.
Till next week.
