CANMORE – It’s looking more like the Canmore Eagles will be waiting to see who their first round playoff opponent is after the final game of the season next week.
With three tightly contested games left, and lots of movement that could still happen, the current first place Eagles are in a race against two other teams for the AJHL’s regular season champion title and coveted postseason home ice advantage.
“What we went through last year, with travel and everything in the playoffs, has really sparked some of our guys,” said Andrew Milne, head coach and general manager of the Eagles.
“Home ice is a big part of it. We talked about it all year and that’s what these three games are going to come down to.”
The AJHL’s regular season winner is determined by how many points a team has. If a tiebreaker is needed, the team with the most regulation time wins gets top ranking. If it’s still undecided after that, the winner of the season head-to-head match-up is victorious.
As of Wednesday morning (March 5), the Eagles have 74 points and 31 regulation time victories with three games remaining.
On their tail with 72 points and 29 regulation time victories are last year’s AJHL champions, the Calgary Canucks. The Whitecourt Wolverines, also in the running, have 69 points and 26 regulation time wins. Both would-be first place teams have four games left.
Milne would prefer to be well ahead of the chasers at his heels, but said the position the Eagles have put themselves in has added pressure to the teams below.
“We’ve put a little bit of heat on them that they have to win their games in hand in order to beat us, so that gives our guys a little more confidence,” said Milne.
Eagles captain Rhett Dekowny likes the fact that the club has to play with intensity to the finish line, noting it “will be good for us” once playoffs start.
“We lost Game 7 last year, so it’s been always a sour taste in our mouths, but I think going into this year, we just want to do the best we can and see what happens,” said Dekowny.
Sitting fourth in league scoring with 27 goals and 59 points, 20-year-old forward Dekowny said the wealth of Eagles’ experience will factor in the playoffs.
There are a dozen players on Canmore’s roster from last year’s team that lost in Game 7 of the semifinals. One of which is Emanuel Hudson, who, for the first time since last April returned to the lineup on Friday (Feb. 28) in the Eagles 7-0 thrashing of the Drayton Valley Thunder.
However, the 21-year-old defenceman’s availability for the Eagles is murky at best.
The Eagles held the rights to Hudson and activated him in mid-February, but Hudson is attending university in Lethbridge and education is the priority.
With 29 AJHL playoff games under his belt, the Eagles are happy to throw in the veteran whenever they can.
“He’s calm, he understands the not too high, not too low mentality when it comes to playing in the playoffs and educating our guys on how we have to play in order to be successful," said Milne. "He’s got that so that part for us is exciting.”
First round opponent list down to two
As the season shakes out, Canmore’s first round opponent will either be the Camrose Kodiaks or Drumheller Dragons, the current third and fourth seeds in the south division. There is a scenario where the Kodiaks can become the No. 2 seed in points, which would require winning the remainder of their games and the Canucks losing the rest of theirs in regulation time. If that were the case, the Eagles would play the Dragons in round one.
The Canucks are set to face potential playoff opponents, the Kodiaks and Dragons, in two of their final games, while Whitecourt plays against the Kodiaks and Lloydminster Bobcats, another playoff-bound team jockeying for better position.
As other teams duke it out, the Eagles have been “fortunate” to have a bit of rest ahead of playoffs. The local club has two games this weekend, with their last home game being Friday (March 7). Their final game of the season is next Friday (March 14).
The AJHL playoffs start March 21.
