SURREY — They say all good things must come to an end, and on Teddy Bear Toss Night the Surrey Eagles found out the same is true of bad things too.
A sixteen-game losing skid? This too shall pass. The only surprise, in fact, is that it didn’t end sooner.
Head Coach Blaine Neufeld commented before the game that teams were rising up to play the Eagles, as though the reigning champion was coming to town. “If you look at our opponents, night to night, they’re taking it upon themselves not to be the team that we beat,” he said.
On Friday however, it was his team rising to the occasion, and the Eagles had to come from behind to get it done against the visiting Powell River Kings.
Teams entered the third period tied 1-1, and a two-goal third frame from the Kings’ Jacob Pritchard looked to take the wind out of Surrey’s sails. Pritchard’s first goal of the third came at the 10:35 mark, and it took just 1:43 for Eagles winger Darius Davidson to respond with a snipe off the rush.
Pritchard would add another just 110 seconds to go in regulation, and while that late goal may have deflated the crowd in the building, the Eagles bench kept their heads held high.
With goaltender Daniel Davidson pulled for an extra attacker, the Eagles continued to press for an equalizer into the final minute. Forced to regroup in the neutral ice and re-enter the offensive zone in the last 30 seconds, a long shot by Spencer Meyer from the right-side point snuck through the crowd in front of Kings keeper Stefan Wornig with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation to tie things at 3.
That set the stage for some overtime heroism, as the Eagles went to a late powerplay in the extra period with Powell River whistled for a bench minor for too many men on the ice.
Almost right off the face-off, with the Eagles up a man, the puck came back to the line to newly-acquired defenseman Owen Johnson, who fed it over to Darius Davidson just above the left-side circle. Davidson let loose with a one-timer as soon as the puck was on his stick, beating Wornig for his second goal of the game and snapping a lengthy slide in dramatic fashion.
But the overtime win, big as it was, was not the first time the Eagles poured off the bench to celebrate in this game — though the first time was more of a cleaning effort, the smiles were there just the same. After Sam Chatterley squeaked a shot through Wornig at 12:02 of the second period to tie the game at 1, the nearly 1000 fans on-hand for the game sent a flurry of furry friends sailing over the boards, with hundreds and hundreds of teddy bears being collected on Teddy Bear Toss Night.
Each of those donated bears will be sent to a happy home this holiday season care of the Surrey Christmas Bureau and the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary, and the importance of this night of giving was not lost anyone in attendance.
The fans rose up to the challenge with a veritable mountain of donations, and the Eagles rewarded them in kind with a tremendously entertaining victory. Everyone went home smiling, except perhaps for the team from Powell River.
GAME NOTES: Christian Short returned to the line-up after missing 13 games with a lower body injury. He sat on the bench, backing up Daniel Davidson, but is expected to make his first start since returning to the ice sometime this week. … Davidson played a big role in the victory, stopping 27 of 30 shots in the contest including some big saves with his team shorthanded. … Jordan Wiest assisted on Chatterley’s teddy bear goal, giving both Wiest and Johnson their first Eagles points in the same game. … Kings’ captain J.J. Coleshaw opened the scoring with 1:05 left to play in the first period. … The Eagles outshot their opposition (32-30) for the seventh time in their last nine games. … The Eagles now go on to play three in a row against their cross-town rival Rivermen.
The Eagles next home game is this coming Sunday at 4PM, as they host the Rivermen for the mini-series finale of three straight games against Langley. For tickets, call 604-531-GOAL.
