Even playing without two key offensive weapons, the Surrey Eagles had no trouble scoring Friday, beating the visiting Victoria Grizzlies 8-5 at South Surrey Arena.
The offence dried up the following night, however, as the Birds were only able to muster a single goal in a 4-1 loss to the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
Captain Tyler Morley led the charge Friday, registering a season-high five assists for the Eagles, who were playing without forwards Michael Stenerson and Brandon Morley, both of whom were playing for Canada West at the World Junior ‘A’ Hockey Challenge in Langley.
There was very little downtime through the first 40 minutes of Friday’s game, with the teams combining for six goals in each of the first two periods. The score was tied 3-3 after the opening frame – Eagles’ affiliate player Kevan Kilistoff, defenceman Linden Saip and Charles Orzetti scored for the home team – and Surrey tacked on four more in the second from Ben Greiner, Steve Koshey, Brandon Scholten and Saip.
Robert Lindores scored the only goal in a much calmer third period.
The middle frame also included a barrage of penalties; the teams combined for 30 minutes in minor penalties – including three unsportsmanlike conduct calls – and four 10-minute misconducts, three of which came after the horn to end the period.
In addition to Morley’s five assists and Saip’s two-goal effort, other Eagles to record multiple points on the night were Orzetti, who had one goal and one assist, and Koshey, who had two helpers to go with his second-period goal.
Sunday afternoon, the Eagles fell behind 2-1 after 20 minutes to Cowichan, with only Colton Mackie, shorthanded, able to beat Capitals’ goalkeeper Brady Rouleau.
Cowichan added one goal in the second, from Jacob Charles, and a power-play marker off the stick of Matt Brown in the third period to ice the game for the visitors.
The Eagles are at home twice this week, playing Friday against the Vernon Vipers and Saturday against Alberni Valley.