Was that deja vu at the Coliseum or just a rare B.C. Hockey League coincidence?
Whatever it was that led to the Surrey Eagles' abrupt turnaround in their weekend series and their 2-1 win Saturday night over the Prince George Spruce Kings, coming on the heels of a 7-1 loss in the same building Friday, it brought back memories of what happened to the Kings at the start of the season two months ago.
On Sept. 13, on home ice, the Kings beat Chilliwack 7-1 and the Chiefs won the next-day rematch 2-1. But that's where the similarities end. While the scores were the same, the Eagles had the benefit of 19-year-old twins Jonah and Nathan Renouf directing the offence and a sharp 16-year-old goaltender named Bo Didur keeping the puck out of the net and used that to snap the Spruce Kings' 10-game unbeaten streak.
"The momentum swung like a pendulum back and forth and it was a huge factor and we ended up getting the momentum by the end of the game and that offensive push won us the game," said Jonah Renouf, a native of Oakville, Ont., who was forced to sit out Friday's game while serving a suspension for a line brawl last week. "Bo was stellar tonight and saved us a couple times at the end and he kept us in the game at the start. Basically he won us the game."
Jonah found the puck through a maze of bodies in front of the Kings' net and with 68 seconds left on the clock whacked it into the net for the decisive goal. On a night of many missed scoring opportunities, the bulk of which came off from Spruce Kings shooters, the Kings stormed the Surrey net in the final minute and got their goalie, Alex Murray to the bench, but Didur wasn't buying what they were selling.
"The difference was that 16-year-old goaltender," said Kings head coach Dave Dupas. "He was unbelievable. We had so many chances at open nets and he seemed to get his body in front of it or we hit a cross bar or misfired, it was one of those games.
"It's just weird how that goes. Everything goes in one night and you just feel like you've burned up all your goals for the weekend and that how it went tonight."
Luke Sandler, 20, a former Trail Smoke Eater in his second game with the Eagles since joining the team from Muskegon of the USHL, got a piece of Jonah Renouf's shot to beat Murray for the game's opening goal 9:41 into the second period. Jake LeBrun tied it on a Kings' power play 5:39 into the third, 11 seconds after Sandler began serving a hooking penalty. It was the fifth point in two games for LeBrun since returning to the Kings' lineup after missing five weeks with a concussion.
As good as the Renouf twins were on a line with Joseph Drapiuk, the Kings' trio of Chad Staley, Brent Lashuk and Jeremiah Luedtke appeared the most dangerous unit over the full course of Saturday's game.
"It's tough and it's frustrating when you get a bunch of chances and hit the crossbar or have some pucks sitting on the line," said 19-year-old Skylar Pacheco, a rock-steady member of the Kings' blueline brigade, which has been making very few mistakes lately while moving the puck toward the high side of the rink. "It's just some bounces that didn't go our way that were going our way [Friday] night. That's how hockey works sometimes."
The Kings play their next game Thursday in Langley.
