INNISFAIL – It’s going to be a shorter season for the Innisfail Eagles.
Eagles general manager Ryan Dodd said that Innisfail and Stony Plain, the two teams that remain in the now re-named Chinook Hockey League, have been working to line up some pre-season and regular season games.
“Right now a lot of teams don’t want to risk injuries in playing exhibition games so unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to get any exhibition games in,” said Dodd.
“We have a meeting being scheduled right now to finalize what Stony Plain and Innisfail will do for the remainder of the season,” explained Dodd. “One of the suggestions that we’ve had is to play a couple of games against Stony in December, a couple of games in January and a couple in February. Then we’ll have a seven-game playoff series to go to the Allan Cup.”
Dodd wants to reassure fans there will be Eagles hockey this season.
“We’re going to try and do whatever we can and see if teams are interested,” he said. “We’re throwing ideas out there, but we haven’t got any concrete plans yet.
“There’s going to be hockey and somebody is going to represent Alberta at the AAA Allan Cup in Ontario,” he added. “We need to figure out who and that’ll be by playing games, so there will be games. When and how many, I don’t know.”
Dodd said about 17 players are expected to return to the Eagles' lineup this year.
The AAA senior men’s ice hockey season would normally start in early October, but changes in the league that came last spring when the Lacombe Generals and Rosetown Red Wings folded, have dictated a different format and approach to the season, noted Dodd, adding schedules reflect such changes.
“We’ll definitely start later on (in the season),” said Dodd, noting a possible return to the ice in December. “We’ll play less games, we’ll practise less and (players) will be fresher.”
In the meantime the team will work to coordinate alumni games and other community events, said Dodd, to stay active on the ice and in the community.
“We’ve been talking to alumni teams, Oilers and Flames alumni teams, and possibly we’ll look at putting on some sort of a fundraiser for charities,” he said.
In addition, they have talked about being involved with minor hockey as well.
“You will see us in the community with our players. We’re going to attend some events and just give back to our fans a little bit,” said Dodd.
“We haven’t forgot about our fans. We had a meeting last night and that’s probably one of the biggest things that (head coach) Brian Sutter talked about, was the need to stay engaged with our fans. They’re the only reason why we’ve been able to be as successful as we have,” he added, noting both fan support and sponsor support in Innisfail and surrounding communities.
"One way or another we’re going to have hockey in Innisfail. It might not be as many games as people want, but when the games do happen we hope that people will fill the stands,” Dodd concluded.
