Canmore Eagles lose for first time at Centennial Cup but qualify for quarter-finals

Canmore Eagles logo. (Supplied/Canmore Eagles)

The Canmore Eagles lost for the first time at the Centennial Cup on Tuesday but their path to the title remains open.

The Eagles dropped a 6-4 decision to the Niverville Nighthawks Tuesday night, dipping to second place in in Pool A.

Canmore completed pool play with two wins, one overtime victory and one loss. They advance to the quarter-finals Friday against a yet-to-be-determined third-place team.

On Tuesday, Niverville got a hat trick from Adam Vigfusson to propel them to their win over Canmore.

Late in the first, Ryder Dembo scored from the point to tie it up at a goal apiece, only to have Vigfusson score with seven seconds left to send Niverville to intermission up 2-1.

In the second, Loik Leduc scored at 6:22 to give the Nighthawks a 3-1 lead and then Vigfusson completed his hat trick to give them a three-goal lead.

Canmore got a pair of goals from Aidan Tkachuk -- one late in the second and then another early in the third to cut the margin to a goal with just over 15 minutes remaining.

Kole Mears scored for Niverville to make it 5-3 six minutes into the third.

With the goaltender pulled, Canmore made it a one-goal game late on a goal from John Szabo with 33 seconds left in regulation time, but Dawson Zeller found the empty net from centre ice to give the Nighthawks the win.

Canmore outshot Niverville 28-23.

Canmore will have to win out the weekend -- three games in three days -- to claim the Centennial Cup.

Their quarter-final game will be Friday at either 1 p.m. or 4:30 p.m.