The last month had the Eagles testing their metal in two of the toughest tournaments they will compete in the 2013-14 season. The Eagles traveled to Detroit for the Warrior Invitational and then, two weeks later, to the Bauer World Invite in Chicago. The Warrior Invitational proved to be a tough tournament as the players had to face, not only stellar competition, but they had to deal with key injuries to teammates. The effort was solid but they found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard. With a win against the Utah Grizzlies U15AAA and losses to the Sylvania Northstars, Saginaw Tropics, and Team Maryland U16AAA, the team headed home and got back to practice.

After two weeks of practice the team was poised to compete at a very high level at the Bauer World Invite, the world’s largest hockey tournament (422 teams, 7596 players, 914 games in one city). The team got off to a slow start against the Naperville Sabres, losing 4-0. But they quickly bounced back against the Utah Grizzlies U16AAA team winning 2-0. Facing a must win situation to move on to the round of 16 playoffs, the boys played a very spirited game, holding off the surging Troy Sting and winning 3-2. Harrison Drewitt was in net and “stood on his head”, stopping shot after shot. That win propelled the Eagles into the round of 16 playoffs which pitted them against the Littleton Hockey Hawks out of Colorado. The Hawks were undefeated in their round robin play so the Eagles knew they would have their hands full. After dominating the first period, the Eagles got on the scoreboard with 11 seconds left in the period on goal by Umscheid set up by Walker. The Hawks turned the game around in the second period scoring 3 unanswered goals. Capitalizing on a power play to start the third period, the Eagles got within a goal. Despite dominating play, the Eagles came up short and ended their bid at winning the tournament.

The Eagles take on the Atlanta Jr Knights at The Factory Saturday, Nov. 9^th at 4pm and Sunday, Nov. 10^th at 7am. Check the Eagles schedule for dates and times of upcoming home games and come out and cheer on the team.