Surrey, B.C. – The Surrey Eagles and the Langley Rivermen were the first two teams to play a game officiated by an all female crew on Sunday night. In the historic event, the Surrey Eagles came back from a 2 goal deficit in the 3rd period to eventually win their 1st game of the season in a shootout by a score of 4-3 over the Rivermen.
This was the first game an all female crew officiated the game. Megan Howes, Grace Barlow, Melissa Brunn, and Colleen Geddes were fantastic in the contest. They were all named 1st star after the game was over. There weren’t a lot of penalty calls in the back and forth affair.
Surrey opened the scoring in the 1st period when Jake Bongo slung one toward the net which got by the Langley starter Jameson Kaine. After Surrey gave up 3 goals in the 2nd period, they buckled down in the 3rd and tied up the game. Cole Galata on the powerplay and Michael Abgrall with a fantastic wrist shot sent the game to overtime, and Holden Cardinal won the game in the 6th round of the shootout for the Eagles.
However, when asked about his initial thoughts on the game, Eagles head coach Cam Keith quickly mentioned his starting goaltender first and foremost. “You have to give a lot of credit to Eli Pulver tonight. We had a very rollercoaster game, as per the norm with this group. Eli just stuck in there and battled throughout the game, and especially in the shootout.” Pulver made a couple of massive stops in overtime and was perfect in the shootout to earn his first career BCHL win. Pulver made 31 saves on 34 shots in the victory.
Another big story was Surrey being able to fight back and win the game after fighting back from a 2 goal deficit in the 3rd period. When asked about what that’ll mean for his team moving forward, Cam highlighted how his team was able to manage their emotions better. “It was huge. We put together a strong 20 minute period of hockey we want to play. It was a more simplified version of how we’ve played recently, and it was huge to get the result from our play and hopefully it helps our team build momentum moving forward.”
The Eagles next couple of games will be during the BCHL showcase in Chilliwack, and for Cam’s team he wants to see his young guys rise up to the challenge. “Very excited about this young group. It’ll be a challenge to get this group to play consistently, but that’s the fun of coaching this team. I’m very excited to work with this young team and to see how they perform in front of all the scouts.”
The Eagles first game of the showcase will be Thursday, October 21, 2021 against the Penticton Vees in a matchup of the two best teams in the 2021 Pod Season. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:00pm, and you can watch the broadcast live on BCHL TV (Powered by HockeyTV), and on mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.
