The silver lining on Thanksgiving Sunday is that the Surrey Eagles picked up a point for the first time in six games. The bottom line, however, at the South Surrey Arena, was that it was also the home team’s sixth straight loss, courtesy a 3-2 shoot-out setback at the hands of the red-hot Trail Smoke Eaters.
The win was Trail’s eighth straight and third in three days on a weekend trip to the coast. They were led by the B.C. Hockey League’s leading scorer Kent Johnson, who set up the tying goal in the third period on the powerplay, then showed off his sweet hands with a dangle and deke in tight to get the puck around Surrey goalie Cal Schell’s outstretched pad for the only goal of the shootout.
The game, a wide-open entertaining affair from the opening puck-drop, saw Schell named the game’s second star while his Smokies counterpart Logan Terness was named the first star, as Trail outshot Surrey 46-39. Trail struck just 2:37 in to take the lead, but the Eagles held firm and then scored both early and late in the second period to grab a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. Johnson brought Trail back even seven minutes into the third on the powerplay. He sent a deft cross-ice pass through the slot to a wide-open Michael Colella, and the league’s leading goal-scorer made no mistake firing home his 12th of the season.
Both netminders traded big saves throughout to force the game to the shootout. The Eagles also had to kill off two late penalties, one at 19:15 of the third period and another at 3:45 of the extra session to skate off the ice with the point in hand.
Two nights earlier the now 4-9-0-1 Eagles had hung tough with the Mainland Division leading Coquitlam Express (10-2) in a 2-1 loss. So, regarding that silver lining, Surrey head coach Cam Keith noted, “We played two really good hockey teams this weekend, well. They were games that mattered, games that went the full 60 minutes. That’s where you grow as a team.” But regarding that bottom line, he quickly added, “I felt that there were some times tonight that we could have had used that killer instinct, which we’re still missing. Cal Schell was great. Some of our guys have to step up and find the net, start burying the puck.” Surrey has scored a paltry 11 goals in their six losses.
There were some bright spots. Trail brought the league’s best powerplay record into the game, as Coquitlam had done on Friday night and the Eagles penalty-killers responded with a 9-for-10 weekend. Keith also applauded both Schell and goaltending partner Thomas Scarfone, who was between the pipes on Friday night. “Both our goalies this weekend played great, which is what we need. We’re not good enough to not have a goaltender that keeps us in games,” Keith bluntly admitted of his offensively-challenged squad which has only scored 36 goals through their first 14 games, seven of those in the team’s last win.
Underlying that point was that both of Surrey’s second-period goals on Sunday came from blueliners, captain Cody Schiavon with his third of the season at 2:19 and lanky Cade Alami with his second of the season at 19:41.
“There’s two options. Keep going according to plan, or shake things up,” said Keith of his or any team’s losing streak. “When you do struggle, and then figure out how to play the right way because it makes the game easier for you, you come out of it. We just still haven’t come out of it. We’re still not quite there, on a consistent basis.”
“I think we’re getting close, and I was proud of the guys for their effort tonight. It was a tough grind-it-out game, unfortunately it just didn’t go our way.”
Surrey will attempt to get back into the win column on Friday night at home against the visiting Powell River Kings. Puck drop at the South Surrey Arena will be at 7:00pm, while the doors will open at 6:00pm.
