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Optimistic ending for Eagles season

The Innisfail Eagles 63rd season has finally come to a close after a recent tough weekend this month at Provincials in Provost. The team came together for the team’s most important weekend of the year.

The Innisfail Eagles 63rd season has finally come to a close after a recent tough weekend this month at Provincials in Provost.

The team came together for the team’s most important weekend of the year. The coaches and myself were proud of the way the team acted both on and off the ice and the way they represented Innisfail.

The weekend started with the early draw of 11 a.m. on Friday, April 1. We were matched up against the #1 ranked Daysland Northstars.

This game was hard on the Eagles after not playing a team of this calibre in just over two months. The boys struggled in the first period but were able to strike first on the scoreboard. The Eagles lead did not last long as Daysland scored three unanswered goals to take a commanding first period lead.

The team seemed to get the cobwebs shaking loose in the second and third periods as they only gave up one more goal. The scoring touch was not there though as the team could not find the back of the net again in the game. Daysland played well against the Eagles in that first game and moved on to the AA side of the tournament while the Eagles were dropped down to A.

Game 2 on Saturday was against the Slave Lake Winterhawks of the North Central Hockey League. The Eagles came out completely different, as they looked more like the team of late January.

The Innisfail squad took the lead in the first and never looked back. Slave Lake was able to score once in the second on a small mental mistake. The Eagles fought through their mistakes and took game 2 with a commanding 5 – 1 victory.

Slave Lake was frustrated and obviously disappointed near the end of the game as they started to attempt to injure Innisfail players, taking silly penalties. The Referee in Chief for the weekend said after the game he commended Innisfail players for their self-control they showed against the Winterhawks.

Game 3 was the hardest and closest game of the weekend. The Eagles met the Dewberry Mustangs in the A Final on Sunday. The Eagles have not had to play three games in three days at any time in the season and this showed on Sunday.

Dewberry proved to have just that little bit more stamina than the Eagles. The Eagles 4-3 loss in the Senior A final was exactly what the scoreboard read, an extremely close nail bitter.

The Eagles had nothing to be ashamed of. Every player worked hard and did their best and that’s what was asked of them. They also brought home silver medals so at least did not leave Provost empty handed.

This team has a great foundation to build from for next season. The players pushed each other to be better and because of that they got better. It took most of the season for it to happen but by the end they were leaps and bounds better than at the start of the season.

As for the Provincial tournament itself I would like to commend The Town of Provost and the host committee and an amazing event. The small community really rallied around this event and made it very memorable for everyone who attended. Provost’s brand new arena complex was amazing. From the dressing rooms to the walking track above the ice surface the facility was state of the art.

What truly amazed me was how helpful, friendly and accommodating everyone we met was. It all started with Sam, the hotel manager of the Canalta Provost. I have never felt so wanted at a hotel before. He gave us full access to the hotel’s conference room for the weekend, which allowed us to cook and serve meals to the players Friday and Saturday. We were also able to store our gear in there Friday night, as there was not enough room at the rink.

Upon arriving at the arena early on Thursday we were greeted warmly by town officials. They helped us get into our dressing and unload our trailer full of gear. Thursday night at the tournament meeting we met the tournament chairman and his committee. They all were just as helpful and made sure we were settled and if we needed anything all we had to do was just ask.

I cannot say enough of how friendly and helpful all the people we encountered in Provost were. The community put on an amazing and memorable event. The citizens of Provost should be incredibly proud of the job they did and how they made everyone feel so welcome into their community.

The hockey for the weekend was also incredible. Two years ago we as a team travelled to Spirit River for the Senior Men’s Provincial tournament. That year I noticed that teams and players were not taking the tournament as seriously as maybe they should have been and there was a huge difference between some of the teams.

Most teams except for the host and Grande Prairie showed up missing players from their rosters. This year was a completely different scenario. Every team showed up with more than 20 players. The hockey was so much better to watch and the teams were quite evenly matched. This tournament really showed me that communities and hockey players all over the province are really getting behind their teams and supporting them to help them get to these events.

The Eagles would like to thank the sponsors and fans who helped support us so that we could represent our community at this prestigious event. Next year will be better and we will return home with gold!

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