Eagles Blank Bruins in Penalty-Filled Affair

Article by I. Schoonderbeek/Media by R. Mansfield

Clarington Eagles fans who made their way to Rickard Arena Thursday night ended up being in for a long evening. But ultimately, they went home happy with a 5-0 Eagles win over the Uxbridge Bruins in a game that went on for almost three hours and saw 191 penalty minutes assessed when all was said and done.

Coach Dean Baumhauer had expressed concern in recent weeks about his club’s slow starts to games. But the Eagles certainly had no issues getting going Thursday night. They jumped out to an efficient 3-0 first period lead and dominated play, outshooting the Bruins 16-5 in the process.

Adam Klaas opened the scoring, followed by goals from Trevor Urquhart and Brayden Hicks.

In the second period, play took a bit of a nasty turn. Uxbridge took exception to Clarington’s play near their net. In return, Bruins skaters twice entered the blue paint and knocked the feet out from under Eagles starter Braeden Derks.

The period saw several scrums, resulting in a slow-down in play and neither team holding much momentum. If that didn’t make the crowd restless enough, the officials seemed to take an excessively long time sorting out the penalties. Baumhauer was ejected from the game late in the period for voicing his opinion on the delays. The teams headed to their respective dressing rooms with nothing further to show on the scoreboard aside from penalty minutes.

The third period saw more chippy play, but the Eagles dominated for the last 20-minutes. Urquhart scored twice in the frame to complete the hat trick. It was his first three-goal game since last season.

“Feels great,” said Urquhart when asked about his big night on the scoresheet. “I felt like I was fighting it a little out there since the start of the year, but things are coming together for me now.”

Urquhart and his regular linemate Kyle Smith were heavily relied upon last season to drive the Clarington offence. The addition of Nate Burelle to the forward mix has taken some pressure off the pair, as the Eagles now have two top scoring lines. Burelle was named Orr Division player of the month for October before puck drop.

“Burelle has been unbelievable for us so far this year,” said Urquhart. “The same with Mitch (Davies). It seems every time they’re out there, they’re making something good happen. Nate is a really smart player and he’s easy to play with.”

Overall, coach Baumhauer was happy with his club’s effort. “We’ve been on our guys about our starts, and we started great tonight. Had a really good first period. I didn’t like our second. We just started to get caught up in all of the after the whistle stuff. But we finished strong in the third period.”

The Eagles may be without Baumhauer at the helm when they hit the road for games in Schomberg and Port Perry this weekend. But the coach has confidence in his team to get the job done. “We’ll be fine.” said Dean. “We’ve got a good coaching staff that’ll handle this, and the players know what to do.”

Eagles fans not making the road trip this weekend will be able to catch the club at home this Thursday when the Schomberg Cougars visit the nest.