Efficient Eagles swoop to victory
From the first puck drop, Soo Eagles were in high flight on Friday night.
Playing with energy in front of effervescent goalie Chad Catt, the Eagles maintained third place in the torrid North Division of the North American Hockey League with an efficient 4-1 win over the visiting Michigan Warriors before close to 700 fans at Pullar Stadium.
The two teams play again tonight at 7 p.m. at the Pullar.
Catt won for the third time in as many starts since being acquired by the Eagles from the Aberdeen Wings at the February 6 NAHL trade deadline. Catt now has a record of 3-0 to go with a 1.95 goals against average and .927 save percentage with the Eagles.
Defencemen Patrik Koch and Jake Hamilton — two more rather-recent acquisitions by the Eagles — scored their first goals in Soo uniforms while Keegan Miller and Brad Pung also found range.
Koch and fellow defenders Michael Caruso and rookie Dan Weaver were among those who turned in extra-effort outings in front of Catt, who made 28 saves while shouting encouragement to his teammates throughout the game.
Friday’s win for the Eagles boosts their point total to 51 from a record of 25-21-1 with 13 games to play in the regular season.
The Eagles are just two points back of the second-place Keystone Ice Miners and only three points up on fourth-place Johnstown Tomahawks in the hotly-contested, six-team North Division.
The loss for the Warriors halted their four-game winning streak and dropped them five points back of Johnstown for the fourth-and-final playoff spot in the North Division.
PHOTO: Keegan Miller scored his 16th goal of the season in the Soo Eagles 4-1 win over the visiting Michigan Warriors. (Photo by EUPNews.com.)
Quick as a “Catt” !!!!
Eagles are lookin good !!!!
Damen Whitten and Richie Metro from the Lakers should be all over Chad Catt to bring this kid in for next season. We need a good 2nd goalie to partner with Gordie Defeel.
The Lakers are already bringing in goalie Nick Kossoff from Keystone of the NAHL next season. I don’t see them bringing in any more goalies unless Defiel didn’t come back for some reason or Kossoff changed his mind about attending LSSU.