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Surrey Eagles split homestand against Island rivals

Surrey Eagles sit with .500 record after first six games of BC Hockey League season
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Surrey Eagles Drew Best carries the puck against Alberni Valley.

The Surrey Eagles continued a flight pattern that’s become awfully familiar to them of late – win one, lose one.

The BC Hockey League squad kept its overall record at .500 on the weekend, after a 3-2 home-ice win over the Victoria Grizzlies Friday, and a 5-4 loss to the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles have earned a split in each of the first three weekends of the regular season, and the pattern was one they found themselves in often last season, too.

The team sits third in the five-team Mainland Division, behind Prince George and Coquitlam.

On Friday, the Eagles got the victory thanks in large part to goaltender Edward Dyson, who stopped 38 of 40 shots. The Eagles, meanwhile, managed just 23 shots on Victoria net minder Michael Stilladis.

Eagles’ first-year forward Drew Best opened the scoring with just 50 seconds remaining in the first period – Michael Stenerson and Demico Hannoun drew assists.

Stenerson and Hannoun combined again 6:53 into the second period on the next goal – this time Stenerson scored – to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

Victoria battled back to tie the game on goals from Gerry Fitzgerald and Myles Fitzgerald, but it was Hannoun, again, who gave the Eagles the lead, scoring the game-winning goal six minutes into the third.

Hannoun, who leads the team in scoring with seven points in five games, and Stenerson each finished with one goal and two assists.

The Eagles weren’t as lucky Sunday afternoon at South Surrey Arena, as the visiting Bulldogs – playing their third game in less than three days – showed few signs of fatigue and leapt out to a 3-0 lead by the 5:28 mark of the second period, before the Eagles got on the board.

With Alberni up by three, Surrey’s Stefan Burzan cut the lead to two, and Brett Mulcahy also scored in the period for the home team.

In the third, Hannoun and defenceman Devon Toews each scored, while Nathan Craft replied for the Bulldogs.

A pair of Evans – Anderson and Tironese – each had three-point nights for Alberni Valley, while Burzan and Hannoun each had two points for Surrey.

Dyson was again between the pipes for the Eagles, stopping 26 of 31 shots fired his way.

Surrey returns to the ice Friday, at Coquitlam’s Poirier Sports and Leisure Centre, for a game against the Express, and Sunday is back on home ice against the Chillwack Chiefs.

Blue-line addition

The Eagles made one roster move prior to their weekend homestand, signing 18-year-old defenceman Tommy Stipancik to the team.

Stipancik, a six-foot-two, 205-pound Vancouver native, had spent parts of the last two seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades.

Last year, he had three assists in 34 games.

To make room on the roster, the Eagles released forward Chris Tracy.