INNISFAIL – A new hockey season has begun.
The Innisfail Eagles opened the 2018-19 season with a close 4-3 loss against the Stony Plain Eagles in their home opener Saturday night (Oct. 6) at the Innisfail Arena.
Despite the loss, Innisfail head coach Brian Sutter was pleased with his team’s effort.
"I was proud of how we played tonight," said Sutter. "If we play like that all the time, we're going to win nine out of 10 games we play.
"It was close but we outshot them 39 to 21. They had seven power plays, we had one," he added. "You stay out of the penalty box. Five on five we dominated and our goalie was huge in the third period."
Innisfail opened the scoring about six minutes into the game with a goal from returning veteran Joel Stepp. Just 26 seconds later, Stony Plain found the back of the net, tying the game at one before taking a 2-1 lead late in the period.
In the second frame, Innisfail found themselves short a man or two after racking up several penalties.
"We got ourselves in trouble. We took a five on three (penalty),” said Sutter. “We killed four penalties until that point in time and then we took a minor penalty. It's a five on three and they scored," he added. "It's just discipline. We played hard and we did everything you got to do. We dominated as the game went on."
Innisfail's Peter Vandermeer tied the game at two early in the second period, but Stony Plain took a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes. Innisfail continued their dominance into the final frame, adding a short-handed marker to bring the game within one.
"I thought we outplayed them for the most part, but we took some penalties that ended up being the difference in the game," said Joe Vandermeer, Innisfail Eagles captain. "We killed off quite a few but overall we still created a bunch of offensive chances and late in the game we had chances to tie it up."
Returning veteran Blair Mulder had an assist on the opening goal.
"We gave a good fight and we outshot them," said Mulder. "It's just doing the little things right. We knew if we did that, we'd have a good fighting chance."
The Innisfail Eagles are on the road for their next two games before returning home on Oct. 26 at the Innisfail Arena. Puck drop is 8:30 p.m.
