Surrey Eagles vs Powell River Kings Post-Game Recap

 

Powered by the few veterans on their rookie-laden team, the Surrey Eagles snapped their six-game B.C. Hockey League winless streak with a 5-3 victory over the Powell River Kings at the South Surrey Arena on Friday night.

Defenseman and captain Cody Schiavon led the way with a goal and three assists. In addition, Eagles head coach Cam Keith reunited the trio of Holden Katzalay, Hudson Schandor and Cristophe Tellier—all of whom wear A’s on their jerseys—and as the coach put it, “They were unstoppable all night.” Schandor had the hat trick, Katzalay had three assists and Tellier added a goal and an assist.

“Our top line was awesome,” said Keith post-game in a lively Eagles locker room. “They played the right way. They weren’t playing outside the dots, they were inside. They created lots of opportunities, they made smart plays, they were physical. Schandor was all over the ice supporting plays. I tried that line earlier in the season, and it was OK at times. But if we’re going to be a team that’s going to be hard to play against, we have to have a top line, and that should be it.”

Surrey started off strong and carried the play when Schiavon opened the scoring at the 8:25 mark of the first period. After a big hit at the Powell River blueline let the Eagles enter the zone on a 2-on-1, Schiavon then jumped up into the play, beaver-tapped his stick to get a perfect pass from Adamo Santia that left him alone in front of Kings goalie Matteo Paler-Chow. Schiavon took his time, then ripped it past him top shelf.

The Eagles held a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal at that point, but as was to happen throughout the game, they started running into penalty trouble which stalled their momentum as the Kings took eight of the next 10 shots. Under the direction of assistant coach Brad Tobin, Surrey’s penalty kill has made big strides recently, even during the losing streak, and killed off seven of the Kings’ eight man-advantages in the game. However, it was Surrey that struck first on the powerplay, when Schandor got his first following a wild scramble around the Powell River goal at 17:32 of the first period.

Surrey extended its lead to 3-0 when Schandor scored his second of the night eight minutes into the middle frame. Schiavon instigated the goal by making a crisp breakout pass out of his own zone. After he received a pass from Tellier, Schiavon deked his way around a Kings defender before neatly slipping it over to Schandor who had a gaping net staring him in the face.

Powell River, which in turn lost its sixth straight game, got on the board two minutes later when Jacob Badal got his first of two goals by batting a bouncing puck out of the air and past Surrey goaltender Cal Schell. However, just seven seconds later Surrey crucially regained its three-goal lead when Katzalay alertly intercepted a pass by Powell River defenseman Ben Wozney just inside the Kings blueline, and then fired a perfect pass to the far post where a streaking Tellier managed to just get enough of his stick on the puck to ease it past Paler-Chow’s pad.

The Kings cut the lead to 4-2 just two minutes later on the powerplay, and then climbed within one early in the third when Badal scored his second after electing to shoot on a 2-on-1 that cleanly beat Schell high over the blocker.

The Eagles answered back four minutes later with the teams playing four-on-four when a sweet three-way passing play between Schiavon, Katzalay and Schandor resulted in the winger’s third of the night, and yes, prompted a couple of hats thrown onto the ice.

Keith was clearly pleased with his team’s offensive approach. “We were able to establish more of a net-front presence. We generated more offense in tight, more scrambles in front, which was our mindset going into the game. We have to do that, to score goals. We’ve been showing the guys video evidence of that. That’s how most goals are scored now. The guys are starting to buy in, starting to figure it out.”

Keith also had high praise for the play of diminutive but quick centerman Kenny Riddett, who took on former Eagle Dawson McKay in a scrap immediately following Powell River’s first goal. “Kenny’s been wanting to fight for a while now,” Keith surprisingly revealed, “but I don’t know why he got into a fight with a guy who’s got an actual foot on him!” Riddett had an extended spell on the injured reserve following the Eagles’ season-opening weekend, and only recently returned to the lineup. “Kenny’s a very tough kid, smart too,” said Keith. “I was disappointed to lose him because I’d been double-shifting him and using him on the PK. He’s going to be the heart and soul of this team.”

The Eagles return to the ice on Saturday night when they make the short trip to Langley to take on the Rivermen.