Surrey, BC – The Surrey Eagles’ string of B.C. Hockey League games in which they had earned at least a point ended in stunning fashion at South Surrey Arena on Sunday as the last-place Merritt Centennials scored five times in third period for a 5-3 victory.
Although the visitors out-shot the home team 29-18 over the first 40 minutes, they found themselves down by two goals as Surrey goalie Cal Schell repeatedly frustrated the Centennials and the Eagles leading scorer Holden Katzalay finished off a couple of sweet feeds to stake Surrey to a 2-0 lead. With his pair of goals, Katzalay moved into fifth place in the BCHL scoring race.
The Centennials, who have been much improved since handing the head coaching reins to Derek Sweet-Coulter last month, finally broke through against Schell as Josh Kagan scored on a one-timer from in tight at 5:41 of the third. Three minutes later Gabe Schovanek restored Surrey’s two-goal lead after a lucky bounce saw Sean Ramsay shoot him a cross-ice feed, but it was all downhill for the home team from that point on.
Wyatt Marlow made it a one-goal game exactly a minute after Schovanek’s goal, and then Jake McLean was given credit for the tying goal at 11:49 after Schell deflected a harmless looking dump-in into his own net. Kagan then scored the game-winner at 13:32 when he beat Schell high on the short side with a wrist shot off the left wing. With Schell pulled for the extra attacker, Kagan then scored from a near-impossible angle to complete his hat trick.
Surrey head coach Cam Keith was almost at a loss for words afterwards, in a somber, virtually silent Eagles dressing room. “I think we thought that we’d out-skill them. They just played with heart, and owned us in every aspect of the game tonight,” said Keith. “Other than our first line, there was nothing. It was very disappointing.”
Merritt was backstopped by goalie Carter Woodside, an affiliate player who won his first BCHL game tonight, and outshot Surrey 39-28 overall. The victory pulls them equal with the West Kelowna Warriors in the Interior Division with 13 points, although Merritt has played three fewer games. With the loss, Surrey falls to 8-14-1-3 and remain last in the Mainland Division, three points behind both the Prince George Spruce Kings and the Langley Rivermen.
Surrey, which had brought a five-game point streak into the game, return to The Nest on Wednesday night when the Warriors pay a visit. The game will be the last of six straight games at home for the Eagles, who then play their next eight straight on the road.
