The Nation Goes to Stony Plain – Eagles vs. Generals Wrap-up

Look at me with my first game wrap-up article! Sure it’s no Oilers game, but Baggedmilk had better keep his wrap-ups tight going forward because I’m coming for him. As you might have heard, the Nation crew ventured out to the Glenn Hall arena last night to watch the one and only Ryan Smyth lace up those senior hockey skates and duke it out against the Bentley Generals. After an insane 40 minutes of hockey, the Generals got the better of the Stony Plain Eagles in the third period, beating them 7-4, and taking a 3-1 lead in the series. 

To start, I will say that I have never been to a Senior AAA hockey game. Before I moved to Edmonton, the Two Hills Longhorns Senior A team was the bees knees, and I’ll never forget the atmosphere of the whole town packing into a small, beat-up Two Hills arena, to cheer on the team during their playoff runs and championship games. With that experience in mind, I had an idea of what we were in for last night, and I couldn’t be more excited for it. 

In typical Oilersnation fashion, we packed into the Nation Limo thanks to Eternity Limousines and hit the road to Stony Plain. As expected, the line into the game trailed outside the doors, and walking room in the Glenn Hall Arena was virtually non-existent. The arena was absolutely packed – sold out form what I hear – leaving dozens of people standing around the glass and behind the bleachers. 

The game itself was fantastic. There’s nothing better than seeing that level of size and skill being played in a small, old-school barn that is the Glenn Hall. The hits were huge, the pace was fast, and there were a ton of goals. Unfortunately there were no fights, but there were no shortage of scrums, and spearing penalties. THREE spearing penalties in the first half of the game; cover your nuts, boys.

Obviously the highlight of our night was seeing Smytty play again. My intern sources had told us that he had actually cut a vacation short to fly out for this game. The guy is just unreal. He didn’t notch any points last night, but you could see his on-ice leadership from miles away. My favourite part was watching him between whistles during the intense moments of the game. He was directing, leading, chatting with every guy on the ice, making sure everyone’s on the same page. We couldn’t be more happy for the guy that he’s playing competitive hockey again, win or lose. 

Alright, the Eagles came out flying and scored a decently quick goal in the first period. It was pretty much an even game throughout the first two periods, even though the Eagles led on the scoreboard. I can’t get over the fact that these guys were playing their assess off, but yet still have to get up to go to work in the morning. Every guy on the ice is trying to kill every other guy on the ice, and as a fan it couldn’t be more entertaining. The Eagles had the upper hand after forty minutes, heading to the break leading 4-2. Then the third period happened.

I guess you could say penalties hurt us. Bentley took control of the third period and Stony Plain ran out of gas. Being on the penalty kill all period would do that to you. Five unanswered goals later and the game is over. The Stony Plain Eagles are heading back to Lacombe this Saturday to try salvage this series, down 3-1. 

Win or lose, the game was absolutely amazing to watch. The intensity that both teams played with for all 60 minutes was incredible to see as a fan. If you want a more in depth of the game, check out the Stony Plain Eagles website! And you can find them on Instagram and Twitter as well. For now we’re all pulling for a Stony Plain victory this weekend so we can go back next week for game six.