The senior ‘AA’ Eckville Eagles showed great success over the weekend.
After going into Westlock with three straight losses their tough month was exacerbated as the Eagles went into the final 10 minutes of the game down 2-1.
“For the first 50 minutes, it felt like ‘oh great here we go again’”, Defensemen and General Manager of the Eckville ‘AA’ Senior Eagles Reed Watts said.
Alas, a sleeping giant awoke and Jordan Freake notched an unassisted goal with 7:05 to play. This opened the flood gates for another unassisted goal by Brendan Lamb and an open netter by Mathew Kinnunen – leading the Eagles to a 4-2 victory to snap their streak of tough luck. The Eagles will now return home to face Daysland with a .500 record 3-3-0.
Watts was pleased to see his team shake some demons during the games against Devon.
“It was nice to be around the winning atmosphere again,” he said. “We were giving opponents opportunities. The game in Devon just brought it to us and we didn’t help ourselves. I hope we can carry this new confidence forward.”
Confidence will be needed for the Saturday, November 5 game as Daysland won the NCHL Championship last year and swept the Eagles through their season series.
“I see Daysland as the top team in the league and we have a rivalry with them,” Watts said. “It will be an intense game, so to come out and get two points will be crucial. We have to own our barn.”
Part of owning your own barn is playing like they did in their three wins and keeping that momentum up.
“We need to pass them and prove to ourselves and our fans that we are for real,” Watts said. It’s going to be a fast, on the wall, cycle, cycle game. It will be chippy - not a rough game, but chippy.”
He added that it will be important to have solid goal tending like they did against Westlock, where Chance Clark captured an outstanding 34 saves.
The next home game will be at the Eckville Arena on this Saturday, November 5 at 8:45 p.m.
“We are hoping to get above .500 going into a schedule that is really good for us the next while,” Watts said. “These are games we have to win - especially if we want to get ahead of some teams.”
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com