Powell River, BC – The Surrey Eagles (16-14-0) started their extended road trip with their first of a back to back against the Powell River Kings (10-16-3), and they kicked it off with a strong 4-3 win over the Kings inside the Hap Parker Arena.
After a scoreless first period, the Eagles exploded for 4 goals in the middle frame which helped Surrey soar to the win. Drew Tsakounis and Tate Taylor both scored their first career BCHL goals for Surrey who also had goals from Michael Abgrall and Buddy Johnson in the game. Jacob Bonkowski and Jimmy Darby both had 2 assists, while Eli Pulver made 30 saves on 33 shots against for his 8th win of the season. The Eagles powerplay also broke out of their slump and went 1 for 4 in the victory.
To their credit, Powell River never relented and scored two goals in the third to make it close. However, when it mattered most in the closing moments of the third period the Eagles stood tall defensively and closed out the win. Maxim Potvin, Parker Lalonde, and Owen Barrow scored for the Kings, while Matthias Smith gave up 4 goals on 32 shots in the defeat.
Eagles Head Coach Cam Keith returned to duty tonight and was behind the bench for all the action in the game. When asked about his team’s victory, Cam quickly mentioned how good his team was defensively. “I thought we defended really well and kept them to the outside for the most part and our special teams were good as well tonight. I thought our defense moved pucks efficiently out of our defensive zone and we had sustained offensive pressure which allowed us to create chances.”
The Kings made the Eagles work for the win, and they almost erased a 4-1 lead. However, unlike some current NHL teams, the Eagles never panicked and were able to come away with the win. Cam praised his young group on their maturity and cohesiveness in the hard fought win. “We never panicked with the puck. We kept it along the wall and made some really smart decisions; instead of going for a low percentage offensive chance we put pucks behind their net instead of making the individual play. It shows a lot about our team’s growth that we’re starting to think more on the team side of things instead of as individual players.”
Tsakounis’ and Taylor’s goals were the first goals from defensemen not named Jimmy Darby all season, and when asked about the secondary scoring from the blueline in the game, Cam was quick to praise both of his snakebitten defenders who broke out in the win. “You need supplementary offense from your D in today’s game. You can’t just rely on your forwards, you need your defense to activate and be a part of it. It was really nice to see for guys like Drew and Tate who have created chances and have been a little snake bitten. Hopefully tonight was the start of a lot more offense from our defense moving forward.”
The Eagles will look to keep the momentum going Monday night in a rematch with the Powell River Kings. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm inside the Hap Parker Arena. You can catch all the action live on BCHL TV (Powered by HockeyTV) and on mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.
