PHOTO: Damon James – Copyright
The Surrey Eagles returned to the Eagles Nest playing host to the visiting Prince George Spruce Kings on Friday night. Prince George took them to task two weeks prior for a pair of games, outscoring the Eagles 9-1.
This game would see the Eagle have confidence on their side, and finally put a “W” in the win column as they played aggressive, strong and dominated the game from the opening face-off.
The Eagles went with Daniel Davidson between the pipes while the Spruce Kings went with Evan DeBrouwer who was tested time and time again by the Eagles strong offense.
Eagles John Wesley put them on the board at 7:24 of the opening period after taking a well executed pass from Owen Norton to give them the lead.
With speed and confidence on their side, it was Desi Burgart who notched his third of the season a short 3:05 later on the PP after Wesley slipped it over following a nifty pass from Norton to put the Eagles up 2-0 at 10:29.
This was to be followed by yet another PP goal, but this one came off the stick of Spruce Kings Layton Ahac who put them within one at 15:08.
With each team trading PP goals it would seem essential for each club to stay out of the box not giving either team a scoring chance.
As quick as the Spruce Kings replied, it was Eagles forward Desi Burgart who notched his 2nd of the game and 4th of the season 41 seconds later after Ty Westgard sent him in one-on-one, giving the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
The Eagles went to the dressing room after one period leading by a 3-1 margin. Both ‘tenders were tested, but shots were far and few between, with the final shot tally after one period at five a side.
With the crowd on their side and a resurgence of confidence working with them, they continued where they left off after the first throwing shot after shot at DeBrouwer who was forced to come up with several quality stops to keep his team in the game.
The only scoring in the second saw Westgard get his first of the season with Ross and Winfree doing all the magic work from the back-end at 13:03 putting the Eagles up by a 4-1 margin, and well in control of the game.
Try as they might, the Spruce Kings pressed, but the stellar performance of a solid Eagles squad held them to only one goal on the night.
Surrey not only controlled the play on the ice, they also dominated in the shot department outshooting the Spruce Kings by a margin of 16-6 for a two period total of 21-11.
If you reflect back on the previous games played by the Eagles, they also controlled the shots but came up short in the scoring department only to go away frustrated in more ways than one.
Surrey came out with speed and jump in the third again again taking charge of the game in both ends of the ice outshooting the Spruce Kings by a 12-4 total, with neither team notching any additional goals.
Surrey’s strong performance was not only a domination from start to finish it showed everyone that they are a force to be reckoned with in the games ahead.
The game was a fast tempo game with both teams struggling in the area of special teams as the Spruce Kings went 1-3 (33%) on the PP, while the Eagles went 1-5 good for only 20% through 60 minutes.
Surrey not only outplayed the Spruce Kings they outshot them by a 33-15 margin after three periods. This game saw the Eagles not only entertain the 946 on hand, but also had them leave with a Surrey Eagles fridge magnet schedule.
Surrey’s next home game sees them play host to the visiting Vernon Vipers October 1st at 4 pm at the home of the Eagles.
One could not expect or ask any more from the Eagles in this game and if this performance is what we come to expect - exciting Surrey Eagles hockey!
FORTIS BC Player of the Game
Jordan Robert
Three Stars:
1st: Desi Burgart (2 Goals)
2nd John Wesley (1 Goal/1 Assist)
3rd Ty Westgard (1 Goal/1 Assist)
