Surrey, BC – Surrey Eagles captain Hudson Schandor rang a shot off the crossbar with a second left on the clock Friday night as the visiting Prince George Spruce Kings escaped South Surrey Arena with a 3-2 B.C. Hockey League victory.
The Spruce Kings were deserved enough winners, in a fast-paced game right from the opening puck-drop. Led by first-star goaltender Jett Alexander, who stopped 28 of 30 shots, many of them of the difficult variety, and second-star forward Preston Brodziak, who was in on all three of his team’s goals, Prince George took a 3-1 lead into the final minute of the game. Playing six on five after pulling goalie Tommy Scarfone, the Eagles clawed their way within one when Schandor whacked a short-range shot past Alexander with 44 seconds to go. But for the home team the equalizer was that crossbar away.
The loss snapped the Eagles’ three-game winning streak and allowed Prince George, the defending league champions, to keep Surrey within reach in the BCHL’s Mainland Division. The fifth-place Spruce Kings pulled within four points of the fourth-place Eagles, who still hold two games in hand. Surrey’s win streak was part of its just-concluded 5-2-1 stretch on the road, while Prince George snapped a six-game winless string of its own. Plus, welcome to Teddy Bear Night at The Nest, and obviously, there was a lot on the line in what the pros like to call a trap game.
But as far as Eagles head coach Cam Keith was concerned, his young team handled the distractions well enough, but just came up short as happens throughout a season. “It wasn’t problematic because we didn’t make it problematic. Our kids came out and played hard, the right way,” said Keith. “We did everything we needed to do tonight, except score enough goals. I thought we controlled the play for the most part. We created a lot of good scoring opportunities, through all our lines. We were really active in the O zone. We were physical and we competed. And we played according to our game plan. It was more just running into a hot goaltender and being unable to score. You have to give Prince George credit,” he added. “They were disciplined in the way they did things and didn’t collapse when we applied pressure. It was a good hockey game.”
Both Scarfone, who has powered the Eagles’ recent resurgence since assuming the starting goaltenders’ position last month, and Alexander were on their games in a low-scoring but entertaining affair.
Keith took the loss in stride, which is rare for a coach. While he noted, “We created a lot tonight, we had a ton of chances and I thought we deserved better,” he then pointed out, “But you know, sometimes it goes the other way. We’ve been winning some games away from home when we haven’t necessarily been the better team. So it goes both ways. Their goaltender came up big, and Brodziak had a big night too.
“I do think we were a little undisciplined in the third period,” admitted Keith. The Eagles took four of six minors in the final frame, and the game-winner came off Brodziak’s stick with just 6:34 to play in the third period, on the only powerplay goal in the contest.
Alexander kept the Teddy Bears in their seats until the game was seven minutes into the third period. With the Eagles trailing 2-0, Cristophe Tellier grabbed a loose puck behind the net and skated himself into the slot before ripping the puck over Alexander’s glove to get the home team on the board and the charity on the ice.
What a way to celebrate the holidays.
The Eagles finish their 2019 portion of the season on Sunday when the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, currently on a bit of a tear of their own, pay a visit to ‘The Nest’.
