Powell River, BC – The Surrey Eagles (17-14-0) looked to build on their win on Sunday against the Powell River Kings (10-17-3) in the second half of a back to back against the Kings inside the Hap Parker Arena. The Eagles certainly did that, as Max Prazma recorded his first official BCHL shutout in a dominant 4-0 win.
Brody Gagno scored his 1st as an Eagle early in the first period, and Michael Abgrall followed with two goals of his own in the next two minutes to give the Eagles all the offense they would need in the game. Grayden Slipec added one more in the 2nd period, but the big story was the play of Prazma, who made 32 saves to record his first shutout in his best start of the season. There was never a doubt from the opening puck drop to the final horn due the stellar play from the Eagles starting goaltender. The win was Prazma’s 9th of the year, and he helped the Eagles penalty kill be successful against all 6 Powell River Kings power plays.
When asked about the game, Cam had a lot of positives to talk about as his team won back to back games for the first time in 2022. “We played another great road game where we kept pucks along the wall, guys never tried to make plays which weren’t there out of our defensive zone. We had some really big penalty kills tonight but you have to give a lot of credit to Max for his rebound control, and he stayed composed whenever Powell River pushed and always had the answer.”
When asked about his starting goaltender who was perfect on the evening, Cam praised Prazma’s ability to make every save look routine in the win. “Like I said, he made everything look easy. There were a lot of tough shots today, a lot of shots through screens and he just challenged at the top of his crease and took a lot of the net away. He acted as a 3rd defenseman at times tonight, moved the puck to our defense and fired it up to our wingers when needed. He played a complete game and it was exactly what we needed to win the game and not give Powell River any hope.”
The Eagles success on the road continued, and they’re looking for their 2nd sweep of a 3 in 3 road trip when they head to Victoria tomorrow. Cam believes these road trips can help build the confidence of this group heading down the stretch. “It’s a confidence builder for this team and helps our guys believe there’s something special with this group. When we’re looking towards the playoffs, we believe that we won’t just make it to the playoffs, but that we can do some damage and compete down the stretch and contend for a championship.”
The Eagles will look to complete the road trip with another win tomorrow inside The Q Centre where they’ll take on the Victoria Grizzlies. Puck drop in Victoria is slated for 7:00pm, and you can catch all the action on BCHL TV (Powered by HockeyTV) and on mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.
