Exhibition Jitters
Chilliwack, B.C. – After a summer of uncertainty in regards to the 2020-21 B.C. Hockey League season, the Surrey Eagles finally got to step foot on the ice after winning their 1st round series against the Chilliwack Chiefs last spring. Unlike game 7 however, the Chiefs scored early and often en route to a 6-2 victory in Surrey’s first pre-season game of the extended exhibition schedule.
Despite the results, Cam had a positive outlook on the team’s first game in 6+ months. “Wasn’t the result that we wanted, but we haven’t been able to play 5 on 5 hockey yet. The Covid-19 restrictions in Surrey has forced us to focus on skill development. This is most of these guys first game in 6-7 months; we saw some good stuff, saw some stuff we need to work on. Overall, we’re happy with some of the younger player’s performances tonight.”
The game got off to a rough start early, as the Eagles took a penalty 57 seconds into the game. Chilliwack capitalized on the man advantage when Brett Rylance tipped home a point shot past Tommy Scarfone, and the Eagles couldn’t recover. Two penalties before the 11 minute mark of the period followed, and the Eagles weren’t able to register a shot until the 15 minute mark.
In the 2nd period, the Chiefs struck early again when Kienan Draper banged home a rebound just 52 seconds into the frame. Michael Abgrall scored the Eagles first goal of the night on the powerplay to cut into the deficit, but the Chiefs added 2 more goals in the period to extend their lead to 4-1. The 3rd period saw more of the same. Carter King scored to help the Eagles cut the deficit, but the Chiefs added another 2 goals to close the game.
Yet, despite the 6 goals allowed, Scarfone was a monster in the game, and was the first to receive praise individually from the coach. “He made some monster saves. He had a lot of odd man rushes tonight. We didn’t do the greatest job of defending the right way, but that’s expected this time of year. Tommy’s Tommy. He keeps the puck out of the net when we need him too, but he’s just going through the early process of playing and figuring things out.”
The results don’t matter, but Cam admitted “We need to defend better, we need to move pucks. We didn’t play as a team; a lot of our kids were excited to finally get on the ice and make some plays out there. They’ll learn they have to use each other, it’s a gelling process. Besides, no one remembers the exhibition games so we’ll take this time to learn as a team and continue to grow, because we’re a very good team.”
While the score didn’t reflect it tonight, the signs were there. The Eagles will look to showcase more of their skill when they rematch the Chiefs inside the Chilliwack Coliseum on Sunday. The game will start at 5:00pm, with the broadcast going live at 4:50pm on HockeyTV and Mixlr.
