INNISFAIL – The Birds of Innisfail finally came home last weekend and defeated their Stony Plain namesake 7–5 in an entertaining high intensity game.
The senior AAA men’s squad’s last home game was an 8-5 victory over Stony Plain on Nov. 4.
Innisfail took a road trip to B.C. on Dec. 8 and 9 to play two exhibition games against the Powell River Regals, a past three-time Allan Cup championship squad.
The Birds of Innisfail won the first game on Dec. 8 by a score of 3–1, and came back the next night with a convincing 6–3 win.
With those hard-fought wins, it was reasonable to believe Innisfail would have an extra step over their old rivals on Dec. 16, which was also the local squad’s feel-good evening to support the Innisfail Christmas Bureau with its annual Mitts for Kids event.
But Stony proved once again they are a tough nut to crack. The game was tied 2-2 after one period, with Stony taking an early second period 3-2 lead.
However, Innisfail roared back with three goals in the second, including two in the final minute, to take a 5-3 lead after 40 minutes.
By this time things were getting a little feisty on the ice between the two old rivals; nothing serious but each team let it be known their Eagles crest was better than the other guys.
In the third Stony came back hard and early to tie the game 5-5 but with just a half period to play Innisfail found an extra gear and popped in two goals, the first by Riley Simpson and then another by Quinton Lisoway.
The Birds skated off with a 7-5 victory, and now have a 3-2 edge in games won this season over Stony Plain to take full control of first place in the Chinook Hockey League (CHL).
Following the game Innisfail captain Joe Vandermeer said the win was not so much due to better conditioning but more a determined willingness to find another gear.
“The boys just stuck with it. There’re definitely parts of the game we need to clean up; the neutral zone and too many odd man rushes but credit to the boys to stick with it and pull it out,” said Vandermeer, adding the friction on the ice between the longstanding rivals is expected. “Playing each other as the league’s only two teams we're going to get on each other's skin a bit.”
In the Stony dressing room, caption Jordan Ceh conceded Innisfail did have an extra jump.
“Even right from the start. I thought we played catch-up a bit. (Innisfail) had a good game,” said Ceh, also noting the increasing “intensity” between the two teams. “I think the intensity is going to really start to ramp up now. We saw it tonight. I think it's going to get more intense moving into the new year and into the playoffs too.”
With the first half of the season now done, Innisfail head coach Kevin Smyth said while his Eagles’ offence is strong there’s still important team work ahead in order to claim the provincial championship and a berth for the Allan Cup championship.
“We need to tighten up some things defensively,” said Smyth. “I thought we were a little sloppy in our own end. We got up, then they came back and we got up again.
“And you know, those are things that you work on throughout the year.”
The first game of 2024 for Innisfail is at home against Stony on Jan. 13. Puck drop is 8 p.m.
