Games against the 100 Mile House Wranglers bookended a difficult week for the Sicamous Eagles.
The Eagles’ Tuesday, Nov. 14 home game versus the Wranglers was the win that should have been. Instead, the night went to the Wranglers with a 3-2 tally.
The Eagles were first on the board with a power-play conversion at 15:42 in the first period by Dallas Stewart off Eric Bertuzzi and Carter Brown. With 10 seconds remaining, the Wranglers potted an equalizer on the power play.
The Wranglers added two more goals in the second period for a 3-1 lead going into the third. The final frame saw the Eagles continue to outshoot the Wranglers. At 16:59, Josh Olson, assisted by Dallas Stewart and Noah Paterson, was able to get the puck past 100 Mile netminder Jared Breitkreuz for the last goal of the night.
The Eagles managed 39 shots on net to the Wranglers’ 24.
On Friday, Nov. 17, the Kelowna Chiefs visited the Sicamous and District Recreation Centre to pick up a 4-2 win. Penalty trouble for the Eagles in the first and second frames gave the Chiefs the needed advantage in this well-matched contest to earn a 2-0 lead.
The Chiefs added a third goal early in the third period. At 13:34, Brian Bailer, assisted by Justin Hodgson and Sebastien Archambault, was able to solve Chiefs’ goaltender Aris Anagnostopoulos to put the Eagles on the board. The Chiefs picked up the rebound a minute later, but the Eagles didn’t give up the fight. At 4:22, Ty Tippett scored the Eagles’ second and final goal of the night off Breckin Erichuk and Tyler Collens.
On Saturday the 18th, the Eagles spent the day on a bus bound for the South Cariboo Recreation Centre, where they once again faced off against the Wranglers.
The first period went well for the Shuswap guests. Carter Brown potted a marker late in the frame off Olson, putting the score at 1-1 before the buzzer.
The second period was a dramatically different story. The Wranglers were a scoring machine, adding five goals – two on the power play – and reaching the third period with a 6-1 lead.
The Eagles attempted to turn things around in the final frame but were unable to stop the Wranglers’ forward momentum. In between four more goals for 100 Mile, Cody Loucks potted a single off Trysten Brookman and Joel Bourgeois.
Brown was named the game’s second star. Also in this contest, Zach Wickson shared goaltending duties with newcomer Landen Coreale, who replaces Brandon Clarke as backup netminder. Clarke is currently listed on the team’s reserve roster.
Next up for the Eagles is a trip to Kelowna on Friday, Nov. 24, for a game against the Chiefs, off to Kamloops Saturday to take on the Storm, Princeton on Dec. 1 for a skirmish with the Posse, then back home Saturday, Dec. 2, for a game against the Osoyoos Coyotes.