The Jan. 28-29 weekend marked the end of the 2012 regular season for the Innisfail Eagles. The boys were on the road to face off for the last time against their rivals, the Sylvan Lake Admirals, for their fourth and final meeting.
For the second weekend in a row the birds were facing some issues with their numbers. The team has been fighting a few injuries and with work commitments they knew they'd be hard up for players once again.
Both teams hit the ice with something on the line Friday night. Sylvan was battling for their final standings in the Chinook Hockey league, hoping to jump up in the standings to secure an easier first-round matchup. Innisfail was simply trying to get the momentum rolling for their upcoming provincial playoffs against Carstairs.
The game started out rather fast-paced with lots of end-to-end action. Both teams were peppering the other tender as much as they could. Sylvan would manage to score first on a tic-tac-toe passing play eight minutes into the opening frame. The birds would answer back three minutes later when Sean Neumeier would capitalize on a pass from Drew Coles and Scott Kallis. Sylvan would manage one more goal to end the opening period 2-1 in favour of the Admirals.
There was a little more offence in the second period. Sylvan would net another puck past birds' tender Wade Waters. Daryl Blais would get the Birds back within two goals when he'd sneak one past the Sylvan tender with the lone assist going to Ian Brander. Less than a minute later the Admirals would go ahead another goal. Neumeier would bring the boys back within two again when he capitalized on the power play, when Scott Murphy would rip a pass from Kallis at the net, bouncing off Neumeier for his second of the night. Unfortunately, Sylvan would find the back of the net once more, putting them up 5-3 through 40 minutes of play.
The third period was all Sylvan again. They would manage to score two more times before the game was over. Innisfail would find the back of the net once more when Blais poked at a loose puck. Brander and Josh McIlravey would get the assists on the goal. Unfortunately though, the goal came too late in the game. Sylvan Lake would hold the boys to the 7-4 final.
The birds will have a couple of weeks off to prepare for their best of seven series against the Carstairs Red Hawks for the provincial playoffs. Stay tuned for dates and game times in the next week or two.
Till next week
