Game Story

Surrey Eagles vs Chilliwack Chiefs Pre-Game Report: Matinee Sunday

by Ryan Ho

Chilliwack, BC – In a rare Sunday matinee affair,  the Surrey Eagles (6-11-0-1) will look to improve upon their building block win on Friday with another Mainland Division showdown against the Chilliwack Chiefs (9-5-3-1). The Eagles played their best game of the season in their 4-1 win over the Coquitlam Express, but need to play with the same energy, cohesiveness, and dedication to winning if they want to try and start another winning streak. The Chiefs won the only other game in the regular season series on October 5th, in a spirited 3-2 affair.

Don’t expect many changes to the Eagles starting lineup after their win on Friday. The Eagles will start Thomas Scarfone today, as Scarfone picked up the win a few nights ago.  As for the Eagles up front, you can see the full roster on our social media channels later today.

Who To Watch Out For

The Eagles played with a renewed vengeance after a crazy week that was saw changes made in Surrey. It helped propel them to their second home win in a row, but now the boys go back out onto the road to try and make it 2 in a row and turn the page after a dismal October. The Chiefs have a couple of NHL draft picks, and a lot of talent so this won’t be any easy task for a young Surrey team. Here are a couple of players to watch out for this afternoon.

Surrey Eagles: Holden Katzalay

The Eagles leading scorer scored a hat-trick last game, and has brought his season totals up to 9 goals and 19 points to pace the Eagles attack. The 19 year old North Vancouver native has been, and will be relied upon all season to keep up the offence and lead this team through his actions. He did a great job against the division leaders on Friday, and will look to be a prominent figure again this afternoon.

Chilliwack Chiefs: Ethan Bowen

The Chilliwack native who’s already been featured on the BCHL’s BC Born series, Ethan Bowen has been one of the leaders for the Chiefs all season. He was a key figure in the Chiefs 3-2 win over the Eagles on October 5th, netting a goal and an assist in the 3-2 win. The North Dakota commit for next year will look to continue his strong play, and has 7 goals and 11 assists for 18 points in 18 games. While he’s not one of the higher profile leaders on a team with NHL ties, he’ll continue to be a  presence for a Chiefs team looking to get back to the top of the division.

3 Keys To The Game

It’s always interesting to see how a team responds after they’ve struggled for a while and manage to squeak out a win. It’s a different animal when said struggling team dominates their opposition in a way most wouldn’t have expected. The Eagles came out with fire in their last game, and need to keep it going to prove to the rest of the league they’re for real. The Chiefs will provide a tough test, per usual, and without further adieu, here are this afternoon’s 3 keys to the game.

  • Don’t let up: The Eagles need to play with the same energy they showed on Friday night, all the time. It’s no different today against a team looking for their 10th win of the season. The Eagles need to continue to win their battles, get shots through, and crash the net if they want to be successful.
  • Capitalize on the powerplay: One thing the Eagles didn’t do in their 4-1 win over Coquitlam was capitalize with the man advantage, something the boys haven’t done consistently all year. If they can add some powerplay success on top of their strong 5 on 5 play, this team will be even harder to play against. It’d also be a great time to start heating up with the man advantage against a divisional foe.
  • Continue to crash the net: The Eagles finally crashed the net with regularity in their win over the Express, and it paid off in spades with a number of goals from in tight. If the boys really have taken the next step in their team wide evolution, they’ll be successful. Goals aren’t just scored from the perimeter with wicked writers or pretty passing plays. The boys need to continue to get into the dirty areas to continue to climb back up the standings.

Summary

For the Eagles today, it’s another chance to make up some more ground on the Mainland Division. The Eagles record versus divisional foes is a solid 5-5, and they’ll look to climb above .500 against their rivals tonight. They’ll also look to even the season series against the Chiefs with a win today.

Can’t make the drive out to Chilliwack today? You can catch the live broadcast on HockeyTV and Mixlr. The broadcast will start at 1:50pm, with the opening puck drop slated for 2:00pm from the Chilliwack Coliseum.