The Surrey Eagles continue to soar in their playoff efforts and quest for the Fred Page Cup, defeating the Cowichan Valley Capitals in the first two games of Round 1 of the British Columbia Hockey League’s playoffs.
Winning 4-2 over their rivals Friday night (April 5) and dominating them with a 5-0 shutout in the following Saturday game (April 6) on their home ice at South Surrey Arena, the Eagles squad was also awarded the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy by BCHL commissioner Steven Cocker, as the team with the most points in the BCHL regular season.
Winger Ante Zlomislic opened the scoring in Game One at nearly nine minutes into the first, assisted by Ryan Evenhuis and Rylan Bonkowski.
Aaron Schwartz – among the BCHL’s top points earners in the regular season, second in the league with 81 points (34 goals, 47 assists) – notched the second goal just after four minutes into the second, assisted by defenceman Nathan Oickle and forward Caden Cranston, the league’s regular-season points leader, with 86 points (30 G, 56 A).
READ MORE: Surrey Eagles set to take on Cowichan in Round 1 of BCHL playoffs
After Cowichan’s Luke Santilli and Andrej Kovacevic tied it up at 2-2 in the third, Eagles centre Zachary Wagnon answered back just seven seconds after Kovacevic’s tying goal, scoring the game winner assisted by Schwartz and Cranston, to make it 3-2. Captain Ty Brassington scored the final – and insurance – goal with only seconds left in the game, assisted by Oickle.
Eagles goalie Ajeet Gundarah, the regular season league leader with a 0.931 save percentage, stopped 21 of 23 shots for the win.
Fresh off Friday night’s win, Gundarah was the starting netminder on Saturday; he shared the 5-0 shutout win with Eagles goalie Jaiden Sharma, who started in the third with just over 12 minutes left to play.
Micah Berger opened the scoring at 7:52 in the first period in Saturday’s game with a power play goal, assisted by Wagnon and Bonkowski, with Evenhuis getting another just four seconds later to the delight of the hometown crowd, assisted by Liam Tanner.
RYAN EVENHUIS SCORES JUST 4 SECONDS AFTER! 2-0 EAGLES! pic.twitter.com/BUu8Fatl2V
— xyz - Surrey Eagles (@SurreyEagles) April 7, 2024
Wagnon and Oickle both scored in the second, with Wagnon, named first star of the night, scoring the fifth and final goal at 10:06 into the third.
Now leading the playoff series 2-0, the Eagles travel to Duncan for back-to-back Games 3 and 4, to be played Tuesday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 10.
If a Game 5 is required, the squad will return to The Nest, their home arena in South Surrey, on Friday, April 12.
For tickets and more information, visit surreyeagles.ca