Langley, B.C. – The Surrey Eagles headed into the George Preston Arena looking to bounce back from an opening night loss. While they played much better, and held the lead through most of the game they were unable to close it out and dropped a tough 3-1 decision against the Langley Rivermen.
For Eagles Head Coach Cam Keith, while unhappy with the result he was happy with the way his team played for a majority of the game. “I thought it was a good defensive battle between two teams. One of those games which could’ve went either way. I thought we managed the game for the most part, and I have to give a lot of props to Max Prazma for making some good saves and preserving our lead for as long as he did.”
Prazma had a great bounce back start after giving up 7 goals a night ago, but wasn’t given the goal support in Langley. Despite his efforts, Prazma lost his 2nd straight start giving up 2 goals on 23 shots against. Ben Fontaine scored his 1st career BCHL goal in the loss, with new Eagle Zack Feaver and Trent Wilson picking up the assists.
Fontaine’s goal in the 1st period held up all the way until the Rivermen were able to tie it shorthanded. Max Bulawka’s 1st of the year made it 1-1, and his line mate Max Dukovac made it 2-1 late in the 3rd. Ryan Upson added an empty netter for Langley to seal the deal late in the 3rd period. Jameson Kaine got the win for the Rivermen, stopping 25 of 26 shots against.
It was a tough loss for Cam Keith’s young squad, but he saw a lot of growth from his team throughout the weekend. “It’s a game of inches out there. You have to be focused on the details, especially late in games. Every little decision matters, whether it’s with the puck or without, on a line change, they can all really affect the game. We have to manage all those elements of the game, and that’s what our team will improve upon as we continue to grow.”
While the big story before the game was the acquisition of Primo Self, another Eagles newcomer played hard and made a name for himself throughout the night in his debut. Zack Feaver got his first point with his new team, and showed his coach what to expect from the blue collared forward moving forward. “[Zack] played a really honest game. I think he was good on the forecheck, and played hard around the net. He kept things simple, and his experience in the league is why we brought him in. We wanted his hard work ethic and his blue collared style.”
The Eagles get the rest of the weekend off, and after a week of practice will pick things up next weekend at home against the Coquitlam Express on Saturday, October 16th at 7:15pm. Tickets for the game are available online on our website and you can purchase them here. A reminder to Eagles fans wanting to attend to provide proof of vaccination and photo ID. If you can’t make it to the South Surrey Arena, then you can catch the game on the broadcast on BCHL TV (Powered by HockeyTV) and on Mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.
