LACOMBE - The Innisfail Eagles played their hearts out in the Allan Cup final but fell short of earning their first Allan Cup title.
The Lacombe Generals defeated the Innisfail Eagles 5-2 Saturday night (April 13) in a thrilling national championship contest.
"We had to work hard to get here," said Brian Sutter, Eagles head coach. "There were nights and situations where we were tired and we fought through it. This was five games in six nights.
"There's nothing to hang your heads about," he added, noting strong play from several players including Riley Simpson, Shawn Bates, Brett O'Malley, Justin Cox, Kyle Dorowitz, Chad Robinson, captain Joe Vandermeer, and goaltender Allen York.
"How hard those guys played, that's pretty special. We had an outstanding job from our goaltending again, just like we did the entire playoffs."
Despite some fatigue, Sutter noted the strong effort from his entire team.
"It was a 3-2 hockey game. We battled, we scored a huge goal at the end of the second period to get ourselves back in the game. We gave up two goals in the second period on turnovers," said Sutter. "I thought in some instances guys had been really good for us. They were a little bit tired in situations, especially our top four (defencemen) and they played hard. Our top line stood on it's head."
Innsifail opened the scoring of the championship game just before the halfway mark of the first period, thanks to a goal by Eagles forward Justin Cox.
Lacombe got on the board late in the period after defenceman Chase Norrish found the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Early in the second frame it was the Generals who took over, scoring two quick goals just two minutes apart from forwards Jesse Todd and Dylan Nowakowski, respectively, giving Lacombe a two-goal lead with a score of 3-1, but Innisfail answered back and with 58 seconds on the clock. Cox buried his second goal of the night, closing the gap to within one at 3-2.
The final frame was fast and furious as Innisfail tried to score a tying goal in the dying minutes. Despite Innisfail pulling their goalie in the final minute for the extra attacker, the Generals held on and forwards Cody Cartier and Jesse Todd each scored empty net goals to give the Generals a 5-2 victory and the 2019 Allan Cup Championship.
"Hats off to those guys (the Innisfail Eagles). They played a great tournament and they absolutely deserved to be here in the final," said Brennan Evans, Generals captain. "When teams are this close it comes down to a break or two, but they played a great game here tonight."
