The Surrey Eagles fed off the home crowd once again on a Sunday afternoon, and local product Jeffrey Stewart scored a hat-trick, doubling-up on the Vernon Vipers 8-4 and nabbing their sixth win of the 2016-17 season.
Surrey goaltender Micheal Botiz started his sixth straight game tonight, making more key saves early in the game and ultimately stopping 40 of 44 shots. Vernon’s starting netminder Cole Demers allowed four goals on 11 shots before being pulled before the start of the second period.
Surrey capitalized on the visiting Vipers early in the first period! Alternate Captain Jeffrey
Stewart got the first tally of the night, batting Jacob Dupont’s pass out of mid-air; the Surrey native’s seventh of the season was followed by Andrew Kemp’s fifth of 2016-17, taking a centering pass from Ashton Calder for the 2-0 advantage. Desi Burgart would put the home team at a three-goal lead, but later in the frame Vernon would avoid the Botiz shutout, cutting the lead to two. After Calder took a penalty and the Vernon special teams bobbled the puck at the blue line, Eagles’ forward Nick Minerva would seize a breakaway opportunity, scoring his first BCHL short-handed goal.
The Eagles took a 4-1 lead into the middle frame but Vernon would cut the lead to two goals courtesy of Steven Jandric. A fortunate penalty by the Vipers would result in a great pass from Darius Davidson towards the open stick of Stewart. Puck would deflect past Taylor, who replaces Demers after allowing four goal on 11 shots, for his second of the game.
“They tried to get chippy, but we had the game under control, so we just didn’t worry about it too much,” said Stewart on a very physical second period against the Vipers.
Vernon would also take advantage on an Eagles penalty kill late in the period, scoring with just 16 seconds left and cutting the lead once again to two goals. The battle stood at 5-3 for Surrey after 40 minutes.
The Eagles were given a scare early in the final frame as Vernon’s Jesse Lansdell scored 4:27in to cut the lead to a single goal. The second half of the third was all Surrey’ Burgart netted his second of the night, Davidson would tally his fourth point with a power-play goal, and 46 seconds after, Stewart would claim the hat-trick to lift the Eagles to their fifth win at the South Surrey Arena and their sixth of the season.
Surrey’s record improves to 6-12-2-0, moving them into the Fifth-Place spot in the Mainland Division; Vernon drops to 9-10-2-0.
The Surrey Eagles swept the Three Star Honours; Jeffrey Stewart, Desi Burgart, and Darius Davidson would receive First, Second, and Third respectively.
Nick Minerva’s short-handed goal in the first period was rewarded with the Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game.
“We need to play more defensive in our own zone, that’s something we’ve struggled with before against them,” said Darius Davidson on his team’s next clash at home against the Prince George Spruce Kings this Thursday.
The Surrey Eagles next game will be against the Prince George Spruce Kings for a third time this season; their first at the nest. Game time is 6:30PM at the South Surrey Arena; buy a ticket at the box office or online at surreyeagles.ca and receive a FREE hot-dog and drink.
