Chilliwack, BC – On a rainy Sunday evening in Chilliwack, British Columbia, the Surrey Eagles (23-21-0) looked to cap off February with a win against their division rivals the Chilliwack Chiefs (26-15-3). Surrey did a good job of generating chances, and ultimately out shot the Chiefs 29-23 but to no avail in the end as they dropped a 4-1 decision.
It was a hard fought game between two teams with a lot of playoff history, and the Eagles power-play failed them late in the 1st period when they gave up the opening goal of the game. Chiefs captain Connor Milburn was fed a pass from Kienan Draper after an unfortunate bounce went against the Eagles, and Milburn made no mistake and sniped a shot under the glove of Eli Pulver for his 9th goal of the season.
Surrey tied the game up in the 2nd period when Jacob Slipec blasted a one timer off Grant’s blocker, off a Chiefs defender and in but that was all the offense Surrey mustered in the game. Cameron Johnson scored two goals, one in the second after Surrey tied it up, and one in the third to add some insurance for the Chiefs. Draper added an empty netter to seal the game late in regulation. Pulver was solid in the loss, and gave up 3 goals on 22 shots against. The Eagles powerplay went 0 for 3 to go along with giving up the short-handed goal.
Surrey’s lack of offense wasn’t from lack of attempts or effort in the contest. The Eagles hit a number of posts and crossbars all night but it seemed like if the Eagles weren’t having bad luck, they had no luck at all. When asked about his initial thoughts post game, Eagles Head Coach Cam Keith was quick to mention the unfortunate series of events in the game. “I thought we couldn’t buy a goal tonight. We hit a couple of posts, a couple of bounces didn’t go our way… The process was there, we created some chances but just couldn’t finish.”
Cam Keith has implemented a new offense for his team keeping a forward high and trying to generate offense from the top of the offensive zone. That’s how Jacob Slipec opened the scoring, and the Eagles were able to generate a lot of offensive chances from the new formation. Cam talked about how his group has adjusted to the new system, and is excited to see his guys become more comfortable with it moving forward. “The guys are starting to get a real good feel for how we want to generate offense. They’re still figuring out where they fit in the new scheme, but the confidence is starting to bud and the defense are getting more involved. We want to continually move pucks and get the defense moving in their own zone and it was effective tonight.”
Despite the loss, the Eagles should feel good about their overall game and how they played after they out-shot and were able to work the puck down low against a very good Chilliwack team. Cam hopes tonight is a positive building block for his team in the final month of the season. “The lesson learned is that if we stick to the game plan and play the right way we can be successful in a tough rink. A lot of stuff was gained from today, there were no negative lessons. We had some good re-enforcement that if the process is there we can win here if it ends up being a playoff matchup. At the end of the day however we have to bear down and bury those chances we generate.”
Surrey will look to get back into the win column Tuesday night, when they’ll head back to Langley to face off against the Coastal Conference leading Langley Rivermen. Puck drop is stated for 7:15pm inside the George Preston Recreational Centre, and you can catch all the action on BCHL TV (Powered by HockeyTV) and on mixlr.com/eaglesbchl.
