Despite a late rally in the third period, the Lloydminster Bobcats were unable to overcome a four goal deficit Saturday night at the Civic Centre.
Hosting the Canmore Eagles for the only time this season, the Eagles netted four second period goals as they defeated the Cats 4-2 picking up their second straight win.
Although Canmore outshot Lloydminster 16-6 in the first period, the two teams went back and forth exchanging chances but neither team was able to find the back of the net as they remained deadlocked 0-0 after twenty minutes of play.
Once the second period started though it didn’t take the Eagles long to begin to soar.
Just 31 seconds into the middle frame, Eagle’s captain Colton Young slid a back-hand shot past Bobcat’s goalie Cale Elder to put Canmore on the board.
That was just the beginning though. One minute and 13 seconds later it was Colton’s younger brother, Alex scoring an unassisted goal to double the advantage.
Not quite two minutes later Taden Rattie found the back of the net to extend the lead to 3-0, before Finn Withey made it 4-0 Eagles less than three minutes after.
Stuck by four goals after two, the Bobcats began to mount pressure the other way and finally broke through with a little over six minutes left.
After Eagle’s goalie Thomas Davis put a pass right on to the tape of Bobcat’s forward Rylan Nivon, the Saskatoon native drove straight to the net and slid a back-hand shot into the open cage.
The Cats continued to try and claw their way back into the contest and with 23 seconds remaining, Jardon Borysiuk scored his 10th goal of the season for Lloydminster to trim the lead to 4-2.
However, that was as close as the Cats would get.
The Eagles outshot Lloydminster 43-37 in the game.
Both teams were unable to score on the mad-advantage, with the Cats getting three chances and Canmore getting two.
The Bobcats will now head south of Friday to visit the Brooks Bandits with puck drop scheduled for 7:00.