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Sylvan Lake Pirates lose inaugural game to Eckville Sr. Eagles

The ‘Battle of Highway 11’ brought a crowd of about 100 people to the Bentley Arena on Sun., Oct. 7
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Pirates’ Justin Moltzahn makes a dash to the Eckville Sr. Eagles’ net in the game’s second period. Photo by Kaylyn Whibbs/Sylvan Lake News

The Sylvan Lake Pirates lost their inaugural game to the Eckville Sr. Eagles.

About 100 fans came out to watch the ‘Battle of Highway 11’ on Oct. 7, which served as the season opener for both teams and also as the home opener for the Pirates.

The Pirates’ Coach Tim Sylvester said he thinks the inaugural game went “excellent.”

“It could have went either way that game, so it was nice,” said Sylvester.

The Pirates fell 7-6 when the Eckville Sr. Eagles scored a goal in overtime despite a great front put up by the Pirates.

“It was a beautiful goal and you had to look down the bench and everybody looked up at us and it was like ‘not much a person can do about that, that was a great goal,’” commented Sylvester.

Sylvester said he underestimated his players on how they would step up.

“We just put this team together and at the very beginning of the year it looked like it was going to be good, but it’s going to be better than I thought it was for sure,” added Sylvester.

With their first game behind them the next thing on their to-do list is a win.

“Getting our guys skating is not going to be the issue, it’s just getting them knowing where each one of [their teammates] is on the ice and that will just come with time and more practicing,” explained Sylvester. “Then it will be more fluid and more flow and it’ll look better because we’re a very fast team.”

The Pirate’s next game is Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. against the Morinville Kings at the Bentley Arena.

Another Pirate’s home game means another donation to charity.

Proceeds from the ticket money goes towards a different charity every home game.

“That’s one of the things about this game that’s kind of unique is donating that money to charity and once people understand that better and they get more and more behind this team I think it’ll just roll better and better,” said Sylvester.

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Forward Anthony Pickering has control of the puck heading into Eagle territory. Photo by Kaylyn Whibbs/Sylvan Lake News
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No. 10 Dallas Hand uses force to keep an Eagle away from the puck in their end. Photo by Kaylyn Whibbs/Sylvan Lake News