Surrey, BC – The Surrey Eagles (20-16-0) had a tough schedule to end off January, and on Sunday afternoon they capped off their schedule against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (21-11-4) at home. The Eagles passed the test again, and won their 3rd straight game with an impressive 4-1 win over a Bulldogs team with championship aspirations of their own.
After Brandon Buhr opened the scoring for the Bulldogs in the 1st period, the Eagles soared back and took control the rest of the way. Ante Zlomislic, Tate Taylor, Cole Galata and Grayden Slipec scored 4 unanswered goals for Surrey in the game, and Max Prazma held down the fort in net with an excellent 31 save performance for his 11th win on the season.
The Eagles played a strong game at even strength, but a huge positive sign for Surrey was that they won the special teams battle during the game. The Eagles powerplay went 1 for 4, and their penalty kill was a perfect 6 for 6 against the Bulldogs powerplay. The special teams improvement has really helped Surrey of late, as they’ve rattled off 3 straight wins against the Bulldogs, Langley Rivermen, and Nanaimo Clippers who are the top 3 teams in the Coastal Conference.
Eagles Head Coach Cam Keith confirmed his teams special teams was the difference tonight, which could be a huge sign for an Eagles team on the rise in the Coastal Conference. “I thought our special teams was the difference tonight. Our PK did a great job in the first period killing off some penalties against a strong powerplay, and our powerplay was good tonight creating chances and got a goal.”
For this Eagles team, the end of January was a huge confidence boost for this group after the wins they pulled off. Cam Keith thinks this is just the beginning for a confident team as they head down the stretch. “I think this group has a lot of confidence and we believe we can compete we can compete with any team in our conference, which is huge going into playoffs.”
Another big story for the Eagles in January has been the play of the younger players on the roster. Grayden Slipec, Taylor , and Zlomislic all factored into the scoring, and the rookies of this group are elevating this Eagles team to new heights this season in the eyes of the head coach. “Our younger guys are the difference of late. Taylor scored a big goal, Brassington logged a lot of minutes, Ross had a great game. Our younger guys have been the difference between our team being a .500 hockey club and our team being a group which can contend. Now that we’ve hit the halfway point our younger guys have become more comfortable and are contributing which is the difference.”
The Eagles will continue their homestead next weekend with 3 straight home games, starting on Friday, February 4th when they’ll host the Langley Rivermen. Tickets are available on our website, but if you can’t make it to the game you can catch all the action on BCHL TV (Powered by HockeyTV) and on mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.
