Coquitlam, B.C – The Surrey Eagles stared adversity square in the face on Sunday afternoon at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Centre in Coquitlam against the best team in the B.C. Hockey League and although the bottom line was the Express remaining undefeated on their home ice via a 3-2 overtime victory, the single point earned by Surrey was a huge one psychologically.
“Teams go through these tough times,” noted Cam Keith of having to face the league-leaders in back-to-back games on their home ice, “and tonight could have been an easy night for us to let the best team in the league, which hasn’t lost at home all season, walk all over us. But we fought right through to the end and we had the chance to be the first team in the league to win in that rink. That’s going to be the toughest rink we play in and we got a point, so there were a lot of positives from just that.”
“They didn’t give up and just kept on pushing,” added Keith. “Even when we had our little lulls we were able to rebound, and twice came back. It was a hard-fought battle, and our guys played really well. We had a chance to win it in overtime, but we will take the big point.” The single point leaves the Eagles two points back of the fourth-place Prince George Spruce Kings and three points back of the Langley Rivermen in the Mainland Division.
After a dominant 6-1 victory for Coquitlam on Friday, in the first game the Eagles played since losing leading scorer Holden Katzalay to the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League, the Eagles essentially held their own against the now 24-5 Express. They also won the battle of the special teams, scoring both of their goals with the man advantage, while going a perfect five for five while skating shorthanded against the best powerplay in the BCHL. After being near the bottom of the BCHL early in the season, the team’s penalty kill, under the guidance of assistant coach Brad Tobin, now ranks in the top half of the league.
Coquitlam held 1-0 and 2-0 leads but Cristophe Tellier, with a one-timer in the first period, and Gabe Schovanek, with a deflection of a shot from the point in the second period, brought the Eagles level before the teams played a scoreless third. As the extra session began, Surrey’s Hudson Schandor was denied by Eagles nemesis Clay Stevenson on a point-blank opportunity. As the play went back up the ice, Coquitlam’s Steven Bellini slipped behind the Eagles defense to park home a back-door feed for the game-winner to make the Express a perfect 15-for-15 at home this season. The win also extended their lead over the second-overall Penticton Vees to five points.
Coquitlam, which has surrendered only 52 goals in their 29 games, out-shot Surrey 35-22 but Eagles goalie Tommy Scarfone cemented his status as the team’s number goaltender with another excellent performance. “Tommy has been amazing for us,” said Keith. “He’s also a big part of our penalty kill, and made those big saves when we needed him to. He’s really starting to feel confident.”
Given the loss of Katzalay, who along with Tellier and Schandor had been one of the most productive forward units in the BCHL, Keith was particularly pleased with yet another strong goaltending performance coupled with production on the special teams. “Goaltending and special teams are going to be big for us,” the coach said of moving forward minus Katzalay’s offensive contributions (fifth in BCHL scoring before jumping up to join the Giants). “Because we’re probably not going to score as many goals five on five, our powerplay has to be that much better and our penalty kill has to continue to keep doing the same thing.”
The game was the second of eight straight on the road for Surrey, which next travels to the Interior to take on the Vernon Vipers on Friday and Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday.
