The Generals and their army rolled into Innisfail on Friday night looking to withdraw some more blood from Brian Sutter and his Eagles. The last time the Gens were in town was for the Eagles' home opener. The two teams played in front of a near sell-out crowd and the Gens walked out with a 7-1 victory.
Friday night the crowd wasn't as large, but the Innisfail arena was still more than half full. The Eagles were in need of the two points so they could regain the first-place title. The Generals, after not playing any league games for two weeks, were just as desperate for the two points.
Both teams came out of the gate moving well. The Gens, however, were able to capitalize early to take a one- goal lead six minutes into the first on a power play. Darnell Glass was able to tie it up quickly off a nice sauce pass from Cody Cartier at 12:45.
With the game tied at one the Generals poured on the pressure. After a few little mistakes and some penalty trouble the Birds started to lose confidence as the Gens knocked home two more power-play goals and one at even strength. The period finally ended with the Gens leading 4-1 and outshooting the Eagles 18-15.
Not sure what was said in the dressing room between periods, but a somewhat different Eagles roster filed out onto the ice to start the second period. The team battled emotions all period and took its fair share of penalties once again but were able to kill off every penalty. Late in the period the Gens found the mesh behind Eagles netminder Jasen Kipling to end the period with a commanding 5-1 lead. Kipling made another 13 stops in the period to try and keep the boys in the game.
The third period was much of the same for the Eagles with tempers flaring and players sitting in the sin bin. Playing short-handed was not about to help the Eagles get back into the game on the scoreboard. The Gens scored once short-handed and netted one more power-play goal while the Eagles could only squeak one more past the hot Bentley tender. Cartier scored as he and Glass each got their second point of the game. Jason Nopper was also awarded with an apple on the Birds'second goal. The late goal was not enough to shift the momentum as the army had the game all wrapped up with a 7-2 victory. Kipper was shell-shocked, stopping nearly 50 shots in the Eagles' second loss to the Generals.
If you were not at the game this 7-2 loss may seem disappointing. For the nearly 500 people who witnessed the game first-hand they were given a great performance. The Eagles are steadily improving each week and have run the gamut of changes since Sept. 10. The Eagles play the Bentley Generals the very last game of the regular season and I can almost guarantee there will not be a five- goal difference.
Next up for the Eagles is an open house and meet and greet at Wild Tim's Liquor store this coming Saturday. Everyone in the community is invited to come on down between 2 and 6 p.m. for some beef on a bun. The coaching staff, players and board of directors will be on hand to interact with everyone.
