Surrey Dominates Nanaimo In 4-1 Win

Nanaimo, BC – The Surrey Eagles (19-16-0) made a statement on Saturday night, as they dominated the Nanaimo Clippers (22-12-1) in a 4-1 win against a team which didn’t have any gas left in the tank in their 3rd game in as many nights.

Surrey was terrific from the opening puck drop till the final whistle, and never gave Nanaimo a chance to enter their own zone throughout the evening. Surrey limited the Clippers to just 14 shots throughout the game and forced the Clippers to flip the puck out of their own zone due to their consistent offensive pressure both with the puck and on the forecheck.

Michael Abgrall opened the scoring on the powerplay for Surrey, while Grayden Slipec, Ante Zlomislic, and Cade Penney rounded out the scoring for the Eagles. Eli Pulver was in net for the victory, and only made 13 saves in a game where he was sharp when he had to be. The Eagles also won the special teams battle against the 2nd best team in the Coastal Conference. Surrey went 1 for 2 on the powerplay in the game, but more impressively they blanked the Nanaimo powerplay which went 0 for 5.

When asked about his team after one of their best wins of the season Eagles Head Coach Cam Keith was thrilled with the full 60 minute effort his team showed. “I thought we played a great road game. Every line was going and all of our defense were contributing in the offensive zone while playing great defensively.”

Tonight was one of the best defensive efforts the Eagles have put in all season, but Cam made sure to mention the advantage his group had against a team which came into the game pretty tired. “We understand they came into the game tired playing their 3rd game in as many nights. To our credit, we were able to move pucks quickly out of our defensive zone which didn’t allow them to set up. In the offensive zone, we held onto the puck and broke them down. Even when they got the puck, they were out of energy and weren’t able to apply any sustained pressure to add onto the fact they were playing the final game of a triple header.”

The big story of the night was the strength of the penalty kill, which shut down a top 5 BCHL powerplay all game. When asked about how his team accomplished that task, the head coach kept things short and sweet and praised his team for their cohesive play and playing within their structure while shorthanded. “I thought our defense did a great job of getting into shot lanes, and our forwards were reacting to triggers. Eli made the big saves when we needed him to make the big saves which was the difference on the penalty kill.”

The Eagles head home tomorrow, and they’ll host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs inside the South Surrey Arena Sunday afternoon. Puck drop is slated for 4:00pm, and you can buy your tickets directly off our website. 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.