Skip to content

Eckville senior Eagles win double-header over Slave Lake

The senior ‘AA’ Eckville Eagles played a double header against the Slave Lake Winterhawks.
82414sylvanlakeJeffClazie-Eagles20161121161915682
Eagles Goal - #21 Jeff Clazie would find the twine with this shot in front of the net.

The horn was blowing at the Eckville Arena.

On November 19 and 20 the senior ‘AA’ Eckville Eagles played a double header against the Slave Lake Winterhawks. The games were never in question as the Eagles would win 9-0 in the first games and 13-3 in the second for a combined total of 22-3.

General Manager and defensemen Reed Watts saw this as a potential outcome of the weekend.

“We kind of knew that was going to be the case,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty.”

The games were in stark contrast to a team that typically prides themselves a low-scoring, defensive games that focuses on protecting their own net before breaking out into the offensive zone.

“You have to remember that these games are far in between,” Watts said. “For us, we have to remember most games if you score four goals - that will be the score. You have to grind the other team and then grind out the win. These games are good confidence boosters and guys feel free offensively.”

Despite the lopsided box score, Watts praised the goal tending of the Winterhawks.

“I thought the first game - their goalie made a lot of saves,” he said. “He stood on his head for a lot of that game. He had over 60 shots both games.”

Watts was pleased with the effort of his squad, despite some troubling tendencies in the second game on Sunday.

“We weren’t as tight defensively in the second game,” he said. “I would never fault the guys - they played hard both games and two games in two days is tough on the body.”

He added “it’s important to remember your basics and work from there. You don’t want to get caught up in that pond style game.”

With the two key wins, the Eagles took sole possession of fifth place with a record of 6-4. They are now within striking distance of both Morinville and Daysland with a big rematch this weekend against Rocky Mountain House.

“Rocky is going to be our biggest rival moving forward and they have really improved their talent,” Watts said. “They will bring a really strong squad after taking Devon to shootout over the weekend and they will be looking for revenge after we embarrassed them in their barn.”

Watts was pleased with the turnout of the Town and is looking for even more support this weekend against Rocky.

“We need a good crowd against Rocky because they will have a strong contingent making the trip,” Watts said. “I would like to see a lot more Eckville faces in those seats watching us take on our HWY 11 rival.”

reporter@sylvanlakenews.com