EAGLES OWNER MAKING CHANGES TO WIN AGAIN
May 3rd, 2017
The Surrey Eagles owner, Chuck Westgard, is shuffling the focus of the Surrey Eagles in order to get it back to where it is meant to be, the RBC Championships. Three years ago after having the Eagles win the “Fred Page Cup” the “ Western Canada Cup” and eventually lose in overtime in the semi-final of the “RBC Cup” In Charlottetown PEI, Westgard hired an outside management group to run the team. He has now decided the time is right to get actively involved again.
Westgard, in addition to his successful Real Estate and Development business, has a long history with sports. Westgard played professional baseball in the early 1980s, and is one of the Country”s most successful girls’ fast pitch coaches, having led his White Rock Renegades teams to 6 National titles. The same goal he has again while being involved with the Eagles.
“We saw a big improvement with last years group and now with the core we have coming back we are looking forward to getting back into the mix with the top level teams in the league, and ultimately the Country.” Westgard commented, “We will continue to add good people to our group that share in our common vision, of making this the place the place to play again”.
The Surrey Eagles are proud to announce Brandon West as their Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel to a multi-year deal. West has been in the BCHL for the past seven years, the previous three as the Head Coach for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
The Prince George, B.C. native comes to the Eagles highly recommended from numerous members of the NCAA coaching fraternity and the BCHL. West was ironically coaching in Surrey for the CJHL Top Prospects game in 2015. He also guest coached with Canada West World Junior A Challenge and assisted with the Canadian Pacific U-17 program in 2013.
West, along with his staff at the time, aided in the development and progression of many great players in our league including, Angus Redmond (Michigan Tech/Anaheim Ducks), Shane Hanna (Michigan Tech) and Taro Hirose to (Michigan State).
“I am honoured and excited to be joining the Surrey Eagles organization. We have an eager group here that is driven to make an impact on and off the ice. After meeting with all the staff, things just lined up in what we are all looking for and we believe we are heading in the right direction. I’d like to thank the ownership and management for this opportunity. My family and I are very excited to be Surrey Eagles.” says the newly appointed coach.
West, 32, will be the successor on the bench to Blaine Neufeld. Neufeld who has been head Coach for the Surrey Eagles for the past three years will move to General Manager of the hockey team for the upcoming season.
“It is something we have been planning to do for some time now and it was all about finding the right person that shared the same vision as myself and that I’d be willing to trust to carry it out” Neufeld says. “We have taken our hits and have continued to get up and are stronger from them, but now we are so close to winning that it was extra important it was the perfect fit, which we feel it is.”
The Eagles have a potential 15 skaters returning for the 2017-18 campaign and a very elite recruiting class joining that. “We’ve been hard at work on next years group. I’ve been out of province traveling since February and we’ve found some amazing kids with great character.” Neufeld added.
“It is the core coming back that we have that is certainly very strong and the recruits to add makes us very optimistic that this will be a very successful year in Surrey.” West explains.
The Eagles are a few months away from hitting the ice. The team is excited and the surrounding community is as well. There will be a lot of Eagles talk moving into the Summer months.
Up next for the Eagles Organization will be their annual Spring Prospects Camp at the South Surrey Arena May 19th – 22nd, which is open to the public.
– WITNESS THE FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE – 2017/18 HOCKEY SEASON –
