When the morning after arrived today in Dundas, Ontario there was no crying the blues with the Innisfail Eagles.
Everyone on the team, from management to players, are not worried about what lies ahead for the squad.
They are well aware that Clarenville Ford Caribous must defeat the hometown team Dundas Real McCoys tonight, April 20 at the JL Grightmire Market Street Arena to continue on in the national senior men’s hockey tournament.
If Dundas wins or loses in overtime the Eagles are done and they won’t even play in the semifinal game scheduled for tomorrow night.
“We're going to keep on talking and keep the focus forward. As far as we're concerned, right now we're still playing hockey tomorrow night,” said Kent Wing, an Eagles assistant coach. “We got to put out those positive vibes in the universe and when we put the vibes out the hockey Gods will shine down on us and, you know, maybe Haarsty up in heaven will help.”
Tyler ‘Haarsty’ Haarstad was a beloved former Innisfail Eagles player who passed away at the age of 39 on the morning of June 9, 2022. The Eagles held an alumni fundraiser game for his children on Feb. 25.
The Eagles, who started the Allan Cup’s three-game round robin play with a big win over Dundas on Monday, find themselves in the current unenviable position after losing back-to-back nail-biting close games to both Clarenville and the Hamilton Steelers.
“We came out here with a goal in mind and now our fate is not in our hands anymore and it's relying on Clarenville to get things done tonight,” said Kent.
He noted the team has a tournament day off today, although there was an optional skate this morning.
“We're just going to focus now on regrouping and waiting to see what happens tonight,” said Kent, adding there is confidence within the team that if things go their way in Dundas, the team will then have two “really good showings” in the upcoming semifinal and championship games. “The guys are dialed in.
“We know what it takes to beat these teams. We haven't shown it over a full 60 minutes yet,” added Kent. “Give us an opportunity here tomorrow night and the stars will align for us and we’ll come through and play a couple of real hard games.
“It won't be an easy task for whoever ends up playing us tomorrow night if we get to be there.”
