While all players play an important role for any club or team, the Eagles are pleased to be without two exceptional ones.
Eagles forwards Jeff Stewart and Desi Burgart have officially been named to the Team Canada West roster for the upcoming World Junior A Challenge taking place in Bonnyville Alberta December 11-17th. Players from the BCHL attended and were put through the paces by Head Coach Barry Wolff, who is the bench boss for the Coquitlam Express.
Missing two key players, as well as injured Cory Babichuk who is out with an upper body injury, makes the task of pulling off a win somewhat more difficult.
The visiting Chilliwack Chiefs started Brendan Barry (4-4-0-1) with a SV% of 0.893, while the Eagles put newly acquired Keelan Williams, who has an impressive SV% of 0.926, between the pipes to shut down the explosive attack. Missing players means bringing players up from various teams, and on this night the Eagles dressed two AP call-ups from the BC Major Midget Hockey League.
Dressed for this “nail-bitter” was Nolan Krogfoss of the Valley West Hawks and Kyle Jennings of the NorthWest Giants. It’s safe to say neither one looked out of place.
The Eagles allowed the Chiefs to grab the first goal of the game at 14:34 of the first with Poliziani getting his team on the board. The remainder of the period was close checking with both teams having chance after chance, but as the period ended the Chiefs outshot the Eagles 13-7.
The second was a much tighter checking game with both ‘tenders being tested from various areas of the ice, but this period saw Eagles’ Jordan Robert work a nifty play on goal after being set up by Nick Fea and Cole Williams to tie the game at one. With both teams having chance after chance, the second saw the teams take a 1-1 tie to the dressing room with the Chiefs (again) outshooting the Eagles 13-10. Despite the score the second saw the officials get additional work with a total of nine minors handed out – four to Surrey and five to the Chiefs.
The third saw the game settle down as both teams knew the win would be more of a confidence builder heading to the home stretch for the Christmas break. The teams traded goals in the third with the Chiefs getting the first from Watson at 2:21 taking a 2-1 lead, but it was short-lived as Surrey’s Ashton Calder snapped one past Barry at 9:24 to tie the game at two. With the game and two points on the line, caution was or seemed to be the name of the game and as aggressive as both teams played, at times they were extremely cautious. The third ended forcing OT and extra excitement for the fans who were on the edge of their seats all game. The shots after three saw the Chiefs ahead of Surrey by ten (35 to 25), and at this stage of the game it clearly could have gone either way.
Teams traded minors in the first OT with Calder taking a much needed minor at 4:58 for hooking with the Chiefs player breaking in the zone. This allowed the Chiefs a face-off in Surrey’s zone to the right of Williams and with 1.7 seconds on the clock one would assume that most players were expecting the period to wind-down. That was clearly not the case as the Chiefs forward managed to push the puck through to the crease getting one shot on goal and to the shock and dismay of many, he got a second chance at the puck. Williams made not one, but two impressive huge saves that would be classified as simply magnificent by anyone’s vocabulary.
The second OT started with the teams playing three on three allowing Calverley to return to the ice giving the Chiefs a short-lived PP for 16 seconds. Calder returned to the ice joining the play with Nick Fea breaking in the zone going deep to the goal-line, sliding a pass over to Calder who sent it past a shocked and surprised Brendan Barry.
Surrey’s win put an abrupt halt to the losing streak, giving them not only points – but an added level of confidence moving forward.
To no one’s surprise both goaltenders were named second and third stars of the game, with Calder getting the nod for first. Barry faced 38 shots on the night, while Williams faced 30 shots through 68:38 minutes of hockey pulling off an impressive 3-2 win.
The Eagles travel to Chilliwack for a return match Saturday (December 10th) in hopes of stealing another win. They return home to host to the visiting Cowichan Valley Capitals who are returning from a three-game road through the interior for two and the final one in the “Eagles Nest” on Teddy Bear Toss Sunday. Make plans and support this great cause and make the players work extra hard by collecting the Teddy Bears.
All stuffies are donated to the Surrey Christmas Bureau!
