Chilliwack, B.C. – The Surrey Eagles continued their exhibition struggles on Wednesday night after giving up 3 goals in the 2nd period to the Chilliwack Chiefs en-route to a 5-2 loss. The loss is Surrey’s 5th straight during the exhibition schedule as Surrey gears up for the regular season.
Another game for the Eagles may have gone against them, but Cam Keith was happy with the way his group battled in the hostile Chilliwack Coliseum. “We were happy with the way we played. We had some lapses in our game at times when we went into a little bit of a shell, but for the most part I was really proud of how our guys came out and stuck to our game plan. We didn’t get as many pucks on net in the 1st as we should’ve with our opportunities but we started to play our game. Our D were really good at moving pucks tonight and there were a lot of positives to take out of it.”
After skating to a 1-1 tie in the 1st period, the Eagles gave up the first of 3 Chilliwack goals a little over a minute in after Ethan Bowen picked up a rebound and shot it over the glove of Max Prazma. Surrey would tie it up a minute later, but Dawson Good scored 2 goals back to back to put the game out of reach. Michael Abgrall had both goals for Surrey in the contest.
It’s been tough sledding for a young Eagles team who are still developing chemistry and strong habits in the pre-season, but one thing Cam noted was how much they’ve improved their pace through the pre-season. “The pace we’re playing at. Naturally these kids like to slow the play down, but for us to be at our maximum potential we have to push pace. Almost to the point where they’re pushing that pain threshold and a little uncomfortable. The guys have really done it through the last week of practice and in the game tonight so I’m hoping it carries through this weekend and into the regular season.”
The focus for the Eagles will be to improve defensively as the pre-season closes this weekend, while also improving their structure and pace. “We need to be a little tighter in the D zone and minimize the 2nd chance opportunities of our opponents especially when they’re going low-to-high shots from the point like Chilliwack did tonight. We need a little more structure, pace, and we’d like to finish off a few more goals! Hopefully we’ll get a couple wins here and build some momentum moving forward.”
Yet the losses aren’t all bad for the Eagles, as Cam believes this exhibition slump will help his team grow. “Anytime we’re losing games our team will get better, so in a way I’m happy this group will stay humble so we can improve and grow moving forward.”
The Eagles next game will be in Merritt on Friday, October 1st. You can watch the game live on BCHL TV and listen on mixer.com/eaglesbchl. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm, and the broadcast will get underway at 6:50pm.
