New Chapter

Tonight, the Surrey Eagles (5-11-0-1) begin the post Cody Schiavon era with another date against the Mainland Division leading Coquitlam Express (12-3-0-0). It’ll be a tough test for a team which is looking for a turnaround after a earth shattering shake up south of the Fraser River. The Eagles have endured an awful October, with a 1-6-1 record in their 8 October games up until tonight.

It’s not all doom and gloom around the Eagles organization however, as the boys have played strong during their recent skid. It’s unlikely to expect either Eagles newcomers Kieran O’Hearn or Liam Freeborn to play tonight after the trade was finalized yesterday, but you can find out later today, along with tonight’s starting goaltender and the starting roster, which will be up on our social media channels later today.

Who To Watch Out For

It’s never easy when a team trades away one of their top players, but that’s what the Eagles have done as they look for answers in an unfortunate start to their 2019-20 B.C Hockey League season. The boys will look to respond to the moves in a positive manner tonight, but are going up against an excellent Coquitlam team. There’s no doubt some players will need to step up for this young group moving forward, and without further adieu, here are tonight’s players to watch out for.

Surrey Eagles: Cade Alami

With Schiavon out, the 6’7 Cade Alami will inherit a bunch of added responsibility on this Eagles team. The Providence Friars commit from Bedford, NY has shown much better as of late, and has become a key player this Eagles coaching staff trusts. Tonight, he’ll look to continue his upward trend with a strong performance against a division foe.

Coquitlam Express: Clay Stevenson

The Express’ starting goaltender has been terrific against the Eagles this season, and in 2 games has recorded only given up 1 goal on 62 shots faced this season against Surrey. He’ll look to continue to stifle an Eagles offence which has had trouble beating hot goaltenders, and lead Coquitlam to a 3-0 lead in the season series.

3 Keys To The Game

There’s no easy way to beat a 12 win hockey team when that team has only played 15 games. The Eagles need to keep their heads high however, and continue to work hard down low, between the circles, and figure out a way to score some more goals. Doesn’t have to be pretty, they just need to go in. Here are tonight’s 3 keys to the game.

Crash The Net: The Eagles need to crash the net with more regularity if they want to score more goals in the BCHL. Especially if the Eagles go up against Stevenson, the boys are going to need to make his life miserable. Get in front, get right on top of his crease, and bang away at any 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities. If they can accomplish this task, they’ll start to see some results go their way.
Shoot More: Another unfortunate theme with this Eagles team has been their inability to get pucks through to the net at all. The Eagles have been outshot in all but 2 of their games this season. Another test for this team will be the ability to puck more pucks towards goal to generate those 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities.
Discipline: The Eagles are going up against another team with a powerplay clicking at over 20% on the season (23%). So this key remains true, the Eagles need to avoid giving Coquitlam opportunities to blow the game wide open, or even swing the momentum in their favour. The better discipline the Eagles have, the better the game will go.

Summary

It’s not going to be an easy task for this Surrey Eagles team, but again, if the boys can find a way to pull out a win it could do wonders for their confidence and help propel this team in the right direction. The Eagles will need to put more shots on goal, crash the net, and stay disciplined if they want to beat the Mainland Division leading Express, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility in the slightest. Simply put, the Eagles just need to score more goals.

Tickets are still available for tonight’s game! You can walk up to the box office starting at 6:00pm to buy your tickets, or visit our single game tickets page and start the preorder process. Can’t make the game tonight? No worries. You can catch the broadcast on HockeyTV and Mixlr tonight, starting at 6:50pm. Puck drop for tonight’s game will be 7:00pm.