The Whitecourt Wolverines are down 2-0 in the AJHL finals after two losses to the Canmore Eagles over the weekend.
Friday night, Canmore beat Whitecourt 3-1 at JDA Place.
Wolverine Brendan Ruskowski opened the scoring at 18:44 with a powerplay goal for a 1-0 lead. Kyle Tucker and Spencer Claerhout assisted.
The Eagles tied it 1-1 in period two, then netted a powerplay goal in the third frame after Whitecourt’s Alex Symes earned an interference minor. That 2-1 lead grew to 3-1 with another goal just four minutes later.
The loss wasn’t for a lack of effort, with Whitecourt outshooting Canmore 46-29.
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Saturday night saw the Eagles edge the Wolverines 3-2, again at JDA Place.
Whitecourt’s Xander Schulte earned eight minutes of minors in the first frame, including a four-minute penalty for slew-footing at 11:17. Canmore scored on the powerplay for a 1-0 lead.
Schulte made up for it in period two, however, with his own powerplay goal at 15:06 to tie it 1-1. Tucker and Claerhout were the assisting duo again.
In the third frame, the Eagles scored less than three minutes in for a 2-1 lead.
Jalen Bianchet tied it again 2-2 about seven minutes later, with the helpers going to Tyler Pretty and Kyle Tucker.
At 11:43, Canmore scored the winning goal for a 3-2 finish.
Now at 2-0 in Canmore’s favour, game three of the seven-game series continues Tuesday, April 21, at 7 p.m. at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
