The Surrey Eagles found their confidence on the back end in their clash with the Langley Rivermen on Sunday afternoon, but in the end, the force was not with either of the teams and both received their first tie of the 2015-16 season.
Eagles’ goaltender Justin Laforest played of his best games thus far stopping 48 of 51 shots through five periods, while Langley’s Nick Trenciansky halted 35 of 38 attempts in his 19th game.
The game started with the Rivermen taking over in the offensive zone, outshooting the home team 11-3 at the midway mark of the first period. Max Kaufman netted his 10th of season to give Langley the early lead, but Matt Hermary found an open cage off of a rebound from Kurt Black’s sharp angle shot. A few late penalties came into play to conclude the first period that saw the Rivermen with the momentum.
After Gage Mackie scored off of a face-off to put the Eagles up 2-1, the visiting team went into hyperspace scoring two goals in 3:30 including one on the power-play. Surrey would pressure back on their own power-play opportunity four minutes later and Brett Stewart fired a laser from the blue line through traffic and over the shoulder of Trenciansky for his fifth goal of the year. Tyler Andrews had four shots on goal in the final minutes of play, but Langley stopped them all and the score stood at 3-3 after two periods of play.
Justin Laforest was the key player for the Eagles in the final regulation period making numerous saves on his blocker side that included a penalty shot awarded to Langley’s Matthew Graham. The third period would solve nothing for both teams, but neither did the two overtime periods, ending this saga in a 3-3 tie and earning a single point each.
Surrey’s record moves to 5-27-1, while Langley gets their first tie of the year 18-13-1.
Max Kaufman’s opening goal was rewarded with the game’s third star, while Brett Stewart and Justin Laforest played great defense for the home team and were named the second and first stars respectively.
Tyler Cooper’s incredible defensive effort and aggressive play up the middle was enough to earn him the Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game.
Surrey’s final game of the 2015 calendar year will be Friday night at 7PM in Coquitlam, where they’ll face the Express for the third time in seven days. The Eagles will begin 2016 on the road in the Interior for a three-day battle with Salmon Arm, Trail, and West Kelowna; games will be on January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
For more information on the Surrey Eagles Hockey Club, please visit surreyeagles.ca or call (604) 531-GOAL (4625).
