Eagles sign a head Coach
This weekend saw the Eagles face off at home on Friday night against the visiting Stony Plain Eagles, and then the boys travelled up the QEII to play their second and final game in Fort Saskatchewan for the year. Friday night marked the fourth and final meeting between the two Eagles teams for the year.
Innisfail came out firing on all cylinders against Stony on Friday night. They were skating and forechecking hard, forcing Stony to cough up the puck from time to time. Stony would sneak one past veteran goalie Wade Waters about four minutes into the opening frame. But Innisfail’s Ryan Kallis would tie the game up, short-handed, with the assists going to Joel Everitt and brother Scott Kallis. The first period would end in a 1-1 draw.
Stony would get another past Waters just over a minute into the second frame. But Innisfail would answer back scoring twice more in the second period. Kallis would net his second of the night on the power play when he would bury a rebound from a Kelly Rogers point shot. The other assist on the goal would go to rookie sensation Sean Neumeier. The Birds’ third goal of the game was scored by returner Jeff Clazie with the assists going to the Kallis brothers. This would put Innisfail up 3-2 through 40 minutes of play.
The third period was an exciting defensive battle between both teams, with neither team giving up many opportunities. Stony would have a couple of big chances but Waters shut them down. Innisfail would fall into some penalty troubles though, and Stony would tie the game up on a power-play goal. For the second time against Stony this year, the boys would need overtime to determine the winner. And unfortunately for Innisfail, Stony would best them once more in the fourth frame.
Saturday the boys faced the bad road conditions to make it up to Fort Sask. for their third meeting of the season. Unfortunately with the Christmas season in full force, Innisfail was short-handed going into the game, with a few of the boys having Christmas parties and family commitments.
The Birds have finally solved their coaching problem after signing former coach Kyle Haviland to take the reins for the remainder of the season. Saturday marked his first game behind the bench of the Birds.
Saturday would be all about The Chiefs though, as they came out playing hard in the opening frame. The Birds knew they were in for a long night when Fort Sask. opened the scoring 21 seconds into the game. They would score two more unanswered goals in the first period to take the lead 3-0 through 20 minutes of play.
The Chiefs would score two more unanswered goals in the second before veteran Daryl Blais would sneak one past the Chiefs’ goalie with the lone assist going to Joel Everitt. Fort Sask. would close the period with two more unanswered goals to go up 7-1 through 40 minutes of play.
Innisfail would manage to score once more in the third period when Graham Telford would put one past Fort’s goaltender with the assists going to Neumeier and Ryan Kallis. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be enough as Fort would sneak two more goals past Waters in the third and final period to put the Birds down 9-2.
Innisfail has a lot of work ahead of them this week as Coach Haviland will be running his first practice of the year, and will have a little bit of catching up to do with the boys. Next weekend sees the Birds hosting the Sylvan Lake Admirals Friday night at 8:30. Saturday will see the boys heading south to Carstairs to face off against the expansion Redhawks
Till next week.
