In a dream season for Quinn Keeler and the Canmore Eagles, it’s only fitting that the defenceman kept sleep in mind as he packed for the cross-Canada trip to the Centennial Cup national junior A hockey championship.
“I’ll take my pillow,” Keeler said with a chuckle. “I can’t sleep without my Memory Foam pillow. If I’m there for two weeks, I need to get my sleep. It definitely is (important).”
Mindful of such details on and off the ice, preparation has gone well for the Alberta Junior Hockey League-champion Eagles, who flew out of Calgary on Tuesday en route to the 10-team nationals, which run May 7-17 in Summerside, P.E.I.
A well-rested Canmore team played its first game in 12 days when the Albertans edged the Central Canada Hockey League’s Rockland Nationals 3-2 in overtime in opening-day action Thursday. Canmore ran its record to 2-0 with a 3-2 victory Friday over the Superior International Junior Hockey League’s Thunder Bay (Ont.) North Stars.
On a wintry April 25 night, five days before Keeler’s 20th birthday, the Eagles defeated the Whitecourt Wolverines 2-1 to win the AJHL’s best-of-seven final 4-1 and capture Canmore’s first league title in 31 years.
“The community has been pretty buzzin’ recently with the win,” Keeler said Saturday (May 2) from Canmore, while he and fellow Eagles helped the organization run its spring prospects camp.
“After we won, we ended up staying overnight in Whitecourt and then driving home in the morning. When we got back (to Canmore), a bunch of people were waiting for us as we arrived at the rink, which was pretty cool.
“We’ve been enjoying it. Still kind of riding that high. It was an unreal feeling. Just being with the boys, still, has been a pleasure.”
Keeler has been with those Canmore boys since January, when a trade-deadline deal brought the Calgarian close to home after half a season with the Lloydminster Bobcats. The trade gave him extra motivation during the second half of the season.
April 25 at Whitecourt. Submitted photo
“Yeah, a little chip on the shoulder, kind of thing,” Keeler said. “I think everything happens for a reason, right?
“It was obviously hard getting traded, but I had a buddy (Aidan Tkachuk) on this team that helped me out, and I grew closer and closer with the boys as the season progressed. It’s been a great time.
“I was disappointed (to leave the Bobcats), but I was super happy to be joining the Eagles. And now, winning the whole thing, it’s pretty special.”
This has been Keeler’s first year in the AJHL. He spent his 18-year-old season in the BCHL with the Cranbrook Bucks.
“Last year, we were done (hockey) before my birthday,” said Keeler, wearing shorts last weekend as picturesque Canmore enjoyed spring-like weather. “This is the first official year I’m still playing hockey on my birthday, which is pretty unreal.”
Keeler’s journey to the Centennial Cup not only brings him back to his parents’ Maritime roots, but also to the same tournament that his father almost won in 1988 as part of the Halifax Lions.
In the national final, Brian Keeler and the Lions led 2-1 going into the third period before eventually losing 3-2 to a Notre Dame Hounds powerhouse from the storied Wilcox, Sask., hockey factory. That Notre Dame team included future NHL standouts Rod Brind’Amour and Curtis Joseph and a lineup full of players bound for NCAA Division 1 hockey and beyond.
Those memories resurfaced since Quinn Keeler and the Eagles qualified for this year’s Centennial Cup.
“Yeah, I know, it’s pretty crazy,” Keeler said about participating in the same national championship as his father, 38 years later.
“He wants me to finish what he couldn’t do, because they lost in the final. They were super close.”
The hosts of this year’s national championship are the Summerside Western Capitals, the same organization that Halifax outlasted in the 1988 Atlantic Canadian final to qualify for the Centennial Cup.
From his BCHL time with Cranbrook last year and early this season, Keeler is familiar with two players, goaltender Kolton Bourret and forward Elliott Mullen, on the current Summerside roster. Mullen and his brother Simon, the Capitals’ captain and high-scoring defenceman, are from Truro, N.S.
The Mullens’ hometown Truro Bearcats reached the Centennial Cup as the Maritime Hockey League champions.
This year’s nationals represent a homecoming of sorts for Quinn Keeler and his family. His parents lived in Halifax before their years in Toronto (where Quinn was born), Montreal and, for the past decade, Calgary.
“My dad wouldn’t miss a game, so he’s coming up for the whole two weeks (of the Centennial Cup),” Keeler said. “I think mom is coming up for the first three games, and then she heads back because she’s got work, and then a trip with some girlfriends, she was saying.
“But we have family in Halifax, so my uncle and aunt are going to come watch on Friday, I believe. They haven’t seen me play hockey yet, also. I’m looking forward to them finally getting to see me play.”
Keeler’s parents watched Canmore’s march through the AJHL playoffs at home and away, including the Eagles’ three victories in Whitecourt during the final.
“I was really happy for them to be there and support me,” said Keeler, whose sports-minded family includes his younger sister Lyla, an elite soccer player in Calgary.
For most of the Eagles’ playoff run, Keeler’s regular defence partner has been Connor Watson, who scored the winning goal in the final game. They’ve complemented each other with their efficient and effective style.
“We’ve been playing really well together,” Keeler said. “I think we’re both really good skaters, so we’re up in the play and it allows us to have a good gap. Like, when he pinches up, I’m there to cover him, and then vice-versa. Yeah, just our skating and our communication in the D zone is kind of what separates us from some of the other D pairings in the league.”
Keeler takes pride in his skating and works on his craft during the summer months. Growing up in Calgary, he appreciated the playing style of former Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, now of the Utah Mammoth.
“When he was in Calgary, I liked watching him a lot,” Keeler said about the veteran NHLer Weegar, a Memorial Cup champion in 2013 with the Halifax Mooseheads. “He’s a super smart, reliable player, and has a bit of an offensive upside, so I like modelling my game around him.”
Canmore has been a model of consistency during the AJHL playoffs, going 12-3 in the process. The Eagles swept the Drumheller Dragons 4-0 in the South Division final, after dethroning the 2025 champion Calgary Canucks 4-2 in their opening-round series.
In the Alberta league championship series against pennant-winning Whitecourt, Canmore took care of business against a Wolverines team that needed overtime in Game 7 to finish off the Grande Prairie Storm in the North Division final.
“The North was really good this year, but we were a great team, too,” Keeler said. “Maybe it put us in a bit of an advantage, having that rest (before the final) and sweeping in Round 2, and them (Whitecourt) going to Game 7 (versus Grande Prairie).
“There was a bit of a buzz that maybe we could take advantage of their bodies being maybe beat up. Other than that, we didn’t hear too much about, ‘Oh, the South is weaker than the North,’ and what not.”
Under the tutelage of the AJHL’s longest-serving coach, 18-year man Andrew Milne, Canmore finished the job in style.
“I think it’s just our work ethic,” Keeler said about the Eagles’ greatest attribute. “With these playoffs, we were relentless. Our hard work (stood out). Secondly, our skill plays in, and then systems. But overall, it was the team’s work ethic — we all wanted to win so badly.”
Keeler, a former captain of the U18 AAA Calgary Royals, believes sticking to their identity will steer the Eagles in the right direction on Prince Edward Island.
“It’s tough to get a read on all the teams, since they’re from different leagues,” he said. “But I think the main focus we were talking about in the dressing room is we’ve got to focus on ourselves, the way we play. Because when we are at our best, I don’t think anyone can beat us.
“We’ll do some prep on power play and penalty kill. But I think, overall, if we play to our structure and all that stuff, I think we’ll win the national championship.”
TOURNAMENT FIELD
Along with Canmore, Rockland, Thunder Bay, Summerside and Truro, the other Centennial Cup teams this year are College Francais de Longueuil (QJAHL), the Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL), the Greater Sudbury Cubs (NOJHL), the Niverville Nighthawks (MJHL) and the Toronto Patriots (OJHL).
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