If the Grande Prairie Storm were hoping for a Christmas gift of two easy points from the last place team in the AJHL South Division, they instead received the equivalent of a lump of coal. Storm falling 3-0 Wednesday night in Canmore, as the Eagles returned the favour for a 3-0 blanking they suffered a month ago at the Canada Games Arena.
Two goals in a 24-second span from Eagles forward Trey Phillips did in the Storm on this night. Phillips opened the scoring at the 7:15 mark of the second period and then rocked the Storm again at 7:39. Grande Prairie minor hockey product Colton Sandboe added some insurance for Canmore early in the third period, while Cam Barnes blocked all 27 Storm shots to pick up the shut out. Nick Kulmanovsky was far busier at the other end of the ice, as he faced 45 shots from the Eagles.
In their first meeting of the year, the two teams combined for an AJHL rarity, as not a single penalty was assessed to either club. It was quite the opposite case in Canmore, with a number of fights and co-incidental minors throughout the contest. As for powerplays, though, neither club had many chances—Storm going 0-for-2 and the Eagles 0-for-3.
So, the Storm are now 1-1 on their southern road trip, which sees them play four games in five nights. They have Thursday off to re-charge the battery, before visiting the Okotoks Oilers on Friday and the Calgary Mustangs on Saturday.
– Story by Don Whiteford of www.PeaceCountrySports.com