The Surrey Eagles won’t make the B.C. Hockey League playoffs this season but they showed the Prince George Spruce Kings they’re not going to roll over and concede two points without a fight.
After losing 6-2 to the Spruce Kings Saturday night, Eagles goaltender Keelan Williams came up with 37 saves Sunday afternoon to preserve a 6-4 Surrey victory.
Jeffrey Stewart and Ashton Calder each potted two goals for the Eagles. Stuart fired the winner, 11:04 into the third period, and Calder iced it with an empty-netter with 21 seconds left.
Stuart opened the scoring on Kings’ goalie Aris Anagnostopoulos just 47 seconds into the game. The Kings answered two minutes later with a goal from defenceman Connor Russell, but Ty Westgard gave Surrey the lead again late in the period on an Eagles’ power play.
The teams traded goals in the second period. Calder and Darius Davidson scored for Surrey, while Jarod Hovde and Tyler Anderson (on a Kings’ power play) countered for the Kings. Down 4-3 heading into the third period, Ben Brar knotted the score 36 seconds into the final period on a Prince George power play, but that’s as close as it got for Prince George. Kings captain Brett Mennear finished with two assists, while Hovde and Anderson each had a goal and an assist.
Shots were 41-27 in favour of the Spruce Kings.
The loss dropped the Kings (23-24-4-2) one game below the .500 mark. The Eagles (17-33-4-0) ended a five-game losing streak.
On Saturday, Kings centre Kyle Johnson had a four-point game with two goals and two assists. Johnson’s second–period goals, his 13th and 14th of the season, both on Prince George power plays, gave the Kings a 3-1 lead. Hunter Luhmann, Brar and Travis Schneider added third-period goals for Prince George. Darius Davidson and Paul McAvoy scored for Surrey.
Prince George outshot the Eagles 49-29.
The Kings have five games left in the season, all on the road. They’ll play next Sunday in Chilliwack, Monday in Langley, then have games on consecutive nights the following weekend in Coquitlam, Langley and Chilliwack.
Prince George is now 12 points behind the Langley Rivermen, who have clinched third place in the Mainland Division. The Kings will either play Wenatchee or Chilliwack in the opening round of playoffs, a best-of-seven series that will begin the weekend of March 3 in the home of the team with better record.
Wenatchee (40-9-4-0) remains first in the Mainland Division and first overall in the BCHL, three points ahead of second-place Chilliwack (38-10-5-0). Each team has five games left.
