The Stony Plain Eagles’ Allan Cup hopes took a blindside hit on Saturday night.

During Game 1 of the provincial finals in Lacombe on March 11, team captain Ryan Smyth took an elbow to the head from Generals winger Kyle Sheen. The incident occurred midway through the third period just after Smyth scored the go-ahead goal with a backhand rocket.

“Sheen was backtracking Smyth and made a beeline for him right after he released the puck with a blindside elbow to the face, leaving his feet,” Eagles head coach Mike Tavaroli said. “It was a dirty hit; Smytty was down and wasn’t moving. He’s going to be out for a while.”

Sheen was assessed a match penalty on the play and Tavaroli believes the league will step in with supplemental discipline. Sheen has averaged between two and four penalty minutes per game throughout his playing career.

“He’s been suspended before and he’s even targeted Ryan before,” Tavaroli said. “(After the hit) we talked about maintaining our emotion because the last thing Smyth would want was for us to get distracted from doing our jobs.”

Smyth left the ice on his own power, and the Eagles finished the job by grinding out a 6-4 victory in Game 1 to steal home-ice advantage ahead of Game 2 on March 14 at the Glenn Hall Arena.

“We’re losing arguably the best player in the league, certainly our best player, and that gives us even more incentive to beat these guys,” Tavaroli said. “It’s a rallying point.”

The Eagles-Generals rivalry has been strong for years, but has taken on extra significance lately after last year’s playoff series and five former Generals recently switched sides to join Stony Plain.

Tavaroli says Adam Chorneyko, who had 13 points in the first round series against Innisfail, will take Smyth’s spot on the top line. The Eagles have plenty of forward depth, but will certainly miss their veteran forward with 1270 NHL games to his name.

Saints can eliminate Thunder with road victory

The Spruce Grove Saints can book their tickets to the second round of the AJHL playoffs with a win in Game 3 of their first-round series in Drayton Valley on Sunday night.

The Saints have outscored the Thunder 8-2 through the first two games of the series, and will look to avoid Game 4 on Monday or a winner-take-all Game 5 in Spruce Grove on Wednesday.