Coquitlam, B.C. – The Surrey Eagles luck continued to go against them tonight after a 4-3 shootout loss to the Coquitlam Express. Another tough game for an Eagles team which is still winless so far in the 2021 Exhibition schedule.
The Eagles again sat a bunch of their experienced players in their 3rd of 8 exhibition games. For Eagles Head Coach Cam Keith, he was positive of the way his team responded to the adversity. “Respond to adversity is the way we’d put it. We had some highs and lows throughout the game. A lot of that was due to not really responding to the lack of time and space. We’re used to playing on the Olympic sized ice. We climbed out of a few holes momentum wise, and the guys kept pushing. Throughout the 3rd we kept with it and it was a good experience.”
Surrey held the lead twice throughout the game, but Coquitlam was able to respond both times in regulation. Goals for Surrey were scored by Michael Abgrall, Ante Zlomislic, and Jacob Bonkowski. Max Prazma made 35 saves in the losing effort. James Bohn, Ray Hamlin, and Matthew Campbell scored in regulation for Coquitlam, with Christian MacDougall scoring the shootout winner in the 4th round. Connor Mackenzie made 19 saves in the victory.
While pre-season is a time for experimenting and learning systems, one system the Eagles will develop further as the year goes along is the power-play. Surrey went 1 for 6 with the man-advantage, finally getting themselves on the board. Yet for the exhibition season, the Eagles are 1 for 14. This isn’t a worry for Cam however, as he understands his young team will grow in time while they focus primarily on their defensive structure early on. “We’ve been talking about [special teams] a little bit more. We haven’t really had the opportunity to work on it per-se and we’re trying a few different units with our powerplay. Power-play is a lot of chemistry and getting the feel of certain positions and certain plays. We didn’t really work on it in the summer time and even to begin the year. We’re focused more on defending right now so we’re not too worried about the outcomes right now. It was nice to see them move the puck a little bit better and generate some more opportunities.”
For this Eagles team, and specifically their defense, the big key will be learning how to play at the BCHL on a regular basis in a bunch of different buildings. The Eagles had 2 leads throughout the game and weren’t able to close it out, and it should be a nice building block for this young Eagles defense corps, and the team as a whole moving forward. “It’s gonna be a learning process, especially beginning of the year with these young kids about learning the do’s and don’ts on a regular basis. Even some of our younger players from last year didn’t get to play a real BCHL season so this will be a bit of a wakeup call in a way. That’s the beauty of coaching and teaching! We’ve got these young guys who we can mold and help develop their overall game so for later in the year and playoffs they’re playing like seasoned vets.”
The Eagles will continue their exhibition schedule Saturday, September 25th against the Merritt Centennials. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm inside the South Surrey Arena, and you can catch all the action inside the building for free! Vaccine passport and ID are required for entry into the building. If you can’t make it to the game, you can catch all the action live on BCHL TV powered by HockeyTV and on mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.
