Surrey Drops 1st Game Of Showcase 6-2 Against Penticton

Chilliwack, B.C. – The Surrey Eagles (1-4) headed into their 1st game of the BCHL’s showcase with high expectations and optimism after winning their 1st game of the season on Sunday. However, the Eagles fell flat in the final 40 minutes and dropped a 6-2 decision against the Penticton Vees (5-0) to drop to 1-4 to start their 2021-22 season.

The Eagles came out strong after giving up the first goal of the game just 53 seconds in. They controlled the puck a majority of the first period and tied it up when Jacob Slipec hammered home his 2nd of the season on a one-timer past the glove of Vees’ starter Kaeden Lane. However, once the 2nd period started the Eagles only managed 5 more shots through the final 40 minutes and gave up 5 goals before Jacob Bonkowski scored late in the 3rd on the powerplay to cut the deficit to 4. Max Prazma gave up 6 goals on 37 shots in the defeat, but played well in the loss.

Casey McDonald had 2 goals and an assist for the Vees to pace their offense, while Josh Nadeau, Bradley Nadeau, Thomas Pichette, and Luc Wilson also scored for the Vees. Lane made 13 saves in the win.

For Eagles head coach Cam Keith, this game simply had the feel it wasn’t going to be their afternoon. “It was one of those games where everything which could go wrong did go wrong. We had a good 1st, but I think the buildup to playing in the showcase played a factor. Once we got down we couldn’t dig ourselves out.”

This young group will need to learn how to control their emotions as their spiral to begin the season continues. Cam’s hoping him and his leadership team can help this group mature as they move forward. “It’s gonna be a combination of myself and our leadership group to find ways to get through the tough times and staying positive without being too hard on ourselves.”

For the Eagles head coach, his team’s gonna need to solidify the basics if they want to turn their season around starting Saturday morning. “We gotta get back to simple hockey and outworking other teams. That’s what it came down to tonight; we got out worked and we tried to do too much at times which hurt any momentum we built. So we need to get back to simplified hockey.”

The Eagles will wrap up their showcase weekend Saturday morning, when they take on the Trail Smoke Eaters. Puck drop is slated for 10:00am inside the Chilliwack Coliseum. You can catch the game live on BCHL TV (Powered by HockeyTV), and on mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.