The senior ‘AA’ Eckville Eagles remain winless at home after suffering a torrential loss to the Daysland North Stars on November 5.
With over 150 people in attendance at the Eckville Arena, the Eagles came out skating hard against Daysland in the first period, however some bounces wouldn’t go there way as the Stars went into the last minute of the first period 3-0. With less then a second remaining, the Stars put the game out of reach early with another goal to make it 4-0 after the first. The Eagles would go on to lose the game 8-1.
Owner and defensemen Reed Watts knew that Daysland was capable of this type of performance.
“Daysland is so good that if you make any mistake, they will get a shot on the net - A quality a shot at that,” he said. “If you have any mess up, they will make you pay and we learned that the hard way.”
Despite the score, Watts feels that this wasn’t your typical 8-1 win where a team simply gives up after getting down a few goals.
“Some of the fans I talked to after said ‘it didn’t have the feel of an 8-1 game’,” he said. “Some games like that you start thinking its ‘home time already, lets wrap this up’ – this wasn’t like that. We kept skating.”
He added that the Eagles played like they had “Carey Price back there, when we really should be playing a structure in our zone.”
With this loss, the win last week over Westlock become even more crucial as the Eagles are only 3-4 despite losing three out of their last four games.
“This game was disheartening but we know what we did wrong,” he said. “This one will be an easy one to leave because no one wants to think about this one. This game is a measuring stick and we didn’t measure up.”
Despite the loss, the Eagles are moving into a crucial stretch of four games that includes home games back to back against Slave Lake on November 19 and 20. Winning the majority of these games would create some cushion for the Eagles in the NCHL standings.
“The next four games we’ve had circled all year,” Watts said. “We didn’t really expect to be 7-0 coming into these games but we need these next games to get a jump in the standing. These are all big games and we will have our full squad for the first time and will be motivated to win big.”
The home game on November 19 will be played at 8:30 p.m. and November 20 will be at 3:30 p.m., both at the Eckville Arena.
“I have been thrilled with the crowds we have been getting and unless something drastic happens, we will be unveiling our new jerseys,” Watts added.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com