Eagles Blank Knights

Article by I. Schoonderbeek/Photo by R. Mansfield

It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but the result was never really in doubt Thursday evening at Rickard Arena where the hometown Clarington Eagles skated to a 4-0 victory over the North Kawartha Knights.

Clarington took advantage of a short North Kawartha bench and dominated play over 60 minutes, outshooting their guests 45-15 in the contest.

Captain Mitch Davies got the home side rolling on the powerplay in the first period. Davies received a clean cross-ice pass from Ryan Hall eight seconds into the man advantage before snapping a shot top shelf for his 10th of the season.

Early in the second, Adam Klaas finished off a give-and-go with Trevor Urquhart to extend the Eagles lead to 2-0.

Another quick strike on the powerplay in the third period put the Eagles up 3-0 when Hall found Klaas for his second of the game. The goal was an almost identical play to Davies’ first period powerplay marker.

Klaas finished off the natural hat trick with five-minutes remaining in the game. The big winger slammed a juicy rebound into a wide-open net on another Eagles man-advantage for his team leading 17th goal of the season. Urquhart and Jordan Shaw drew assists on the play.

Oliver Webster picked up his eighth win and first shutout of the season in goal for the Eagles, turning away all 15 shots he faced. Webster was quick to redirect any praise for his performance towards his teammates after the game. “The boys made it really easy on me tonight,” said Oliver. “I didn’t have to do much. I made a couple saves at key moments, but the boys pretty much kept them to the outside for me.”

The game marked the Eagles debut of defenseman Everitt Corneil, who was acquired via trade from the Little Britain Merchants a day earlier. Corneil and Webster were teammates the previous two seasons with the Merchants. “He’s a good 2-way defenseman,” said Webster of his once again teammate. “He’s a good guy in the dressing room! We’ll be spending a lot of time together carpooling to games and practices the rest of the year. I’m happy to have him here with us!”

“It felt good out there,” said Corneil of his first taste of action with his new club. “Things just kinda came naturally. It’s a good group of guys here, so that makes it easy.” Asked what Eagles fans can expect to see the 6’3” rearguard bring to the team, Everitt responded, “I like to play a good solid 2-way game. Obviously, you’ve got to take care of your own end first, but it’s fun to be able to jump in on offence when the opportunities come as well.”

The Eagles get right back at it Friday evening when they travel to Keswick to for a rematch with the second place Georgina Ice. The Ice will no doubt be looking for payback after squandering a three-goal lead in a battle between the two clubs last week. Game time for fans making the trip is 7:30 p.m.