The Sicamous Eagles are warming up quickly in regular season play. To date, the team has gone two for two, with the two losses coming in overtime.
Eagles manager Wayne March is pleased with what he’s seen so far, from the team which this year is benefitted by 11 returning players.
“It’s going to give us a great start and, with the new guys that we’ve got, everybody’s playing really well,” says March.
Sicamous suffered a 3-2 OT loss in their first game of the season, Sept. 11, vs guests the North Okanagan Knights. And on Sept. 14, the Eagles again wound up on the losing end of a 4-3 OT decision, this time to the Revelstoke Grizzlies. Sicamous and Revelstoke faced off again on Sept. 22 on the Eagles’ ice. And this time, it was Sicamous who came out on top in OT with a 5-4 win.
Revelstoke potted two in the first frame around a Sicamous goal from returning Eagle Brett Trofanenko, aided by fellow vets Corbin Marcotte and Jamie Gallo.
In the second frame, Revelstoke with an early marker upped their lead to 3-1. But Sicamous was able to tie things up before the period’s end with a power-play goal by Nathan Grieve, followed by a single from Marcotte, assisted by Collin Mathieson, Joel Kipp, Matt Reed and Cameron Berry.
Revelstoke’s final goal came at 16:36 in the third frame. But at 6:25, the Eagles were able to take the puck back to the Bruins, giving Connor Buick – assisted by Grieve and Gallo – the chance to tie things up at 4-4.
Sicamous newcomer Cameron Berry put in the tiebreaker, aided by Reed and Cam Olson.
The game’s first star went to Buick, with teammates Berry and Trofanenko receiving second and third.
Buick was again named first star following the Eagles’ 7-3 home-game win on Sept. 23 against the Chase Heat.
Sicamous was first to light up the board with a marker at 9:07 in the first period from Brendan Devries, assisted by Mathieson and Connor Fynn. With three minutes left on the clock and a power play in Sicamous’ favour, Marcotte (aided by Gallo and Jameson Stoski) was able to find the back of the Chase net to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead going into the second frame.
In the second frame, Trofanenko potted an early marker on a power play, assisted by Marcotte and Kipp. This was followed a minute later with an unassisted single from Buick. The Heat had final say in the frame with a goal at 2:04.
Buick put in a repeat performance at 14:20 in the third frame with a second unassisted goal. The Heat took advantage of a power play to add two to their tally. But Sicamous made sure to make every second count, right down to the last thirty-one seconds of the period. With 31 seconds on the clock, Berry potted goal number six for Sicamous, while Jordan Harder, in the last second of the game, put in the seventh.
Marcotte and Mathieson were named second and third star respectively.
While the team may still see some changes, particularly on the blue line, March says this year’s lineup is fairly solid overall.
We’ve got a strong team. I mean, there’s no real weak points, but you try to get better in some areas… if a player pops up who is better than what we have, then we’ll make a move,” says March.
Sicamous’ next contest is at home vs the Penticton Lakers, Friday, Sept. 28, 7 p.m. game time.