INNISFAIL- The Innisfail Eagles are not where they want to be.
They are now down 2-0 in the Allan Cup national championship series after falling 4-1 to the defending Allan Cup champions, the Stoney Creek Generals Tuesday afternoon.
"It was a close game the whole game. It was a 2-1 hockey game. That's the way it goes," said Eagles head coach Brian Sutter. “If we played as hard and with the desperation we did tonight, we would have won that game last night by five goals. Tonight was a heck of a hockey game,” he added.
The Stoney Creek Generals drew first blood Tuesday with a goal from forward Cam Fergus, just past the halfway mark of the first period. Innisfail answered back two minutes later with a goal from forward Shawn Bates.
Fergus scored his second goal of the night, a powerplay marker half way through the second period that gave the Generals a 2-1 lead. Nathan Pageau scored in the dying minutes of the final frame and Sean Blanchard netted an empty net goal at the buzzer to seal the deal for the Generals.
“They came hard. We were fortunate our goalie made some big saves for us and we were fortunate to bury a couple,” said Fergus, noting most of the players this year are returning veterans from last year’s championship team.
“The tournament style is tough. A goaltender or special teams can steal a game for you and that’s a big deal,” he added. “It’s important to approach every game as a must win.”
Eagles forward Shawn Bates said his team was not happy with how they’ve played so far in the tournament.
“(There’s) frustration and that can be a good thing because everyone cares. If people didn’t care I don’t think there would be that much fireworks at the end,” said Bates, noting the emotion in the game. “We’re now in a do-or-die situation. You win or you go home.
“We’re going to get a day here to re-group, hang out as a team and then we plan to play 'til Saturday so we’re going to get prepared to play a three (games) in three (days),” Bates concluded.
Times and opponent for Thursday's game are to be announced.
