Confidence Builder

Winning builds confidence and confidence builds winning and that was the mindset that the Eagles took into the game across cross-town rivals the Coquitlam Express.

Coming off an impressive 4-3 O/T win against Interior Division Silverbacks, but the game on Porier seems to mean more to the “guy’s” than others – well most others.

Changes can be a momentum swing, so this game saw the Eagles start Davidson between the pipes and rest Tallarico considering how his acrobatics played out the night prior.

One can be as focused when entering a game, but focus shuts down when you have an untimely delay prior to the opening face-off all due to a piece of broken plexiglass  in the pre-game warm-up.

One would think that the game plan for the Express was to outskate the Eagles, but this is easier said than done, given the explosive line-up that bench boss Brandon West and Linden Saip have in the line-up the Eagles had the edge in this department.

Coming out with an impressive jump was what they served up and it was a short 1:34 in that saw Aaron White grab his 4th of the season while on the PP with Robert and Stewart working magic from the back end.

Coquitlam pressed, but Davidson would have none of it and playing strong from the backend saw Desi Burgart dangle the puck out of his zone and slip it up the right side to Westgard who drove to the hash marks on the right side seeing Eagles speedster Johnny Wesley free 40 feet out front.

From here Wesley does what he’s known for and with his slick moves and feather-light skating style he dangled in on the right side slipping it under the pads of a sprawling Stevenson collecting his 13th of the season.

While the Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the 7:29 mark, I for one was shocked that Westgard failed to grab a point on the scoresheet, but never fail as he would collect another point later on.

Surrey held the lead until the 13:17 mark of the first when Express Wildauer notched his 4th of the season while playing shorthanded allowing the Express to head to the dressing room trailing by a slim 2-1 margin.

Nevermind outscoring the Express the Eagles hammered 16 shots at Stevenson, while the Express were only able to manage 4 at Davidson, but the second was a different story for Coquitlam.

The second was extremely entertaining for the 627 fans taking in the game, some dressed up in halloween garb, others not so dressed up but regardless the Express outshot the Eagles by a 14-11 margin proving that they were indeed not quite finished.

Both myself and Greg were having a discussion between periods of how it was imparative for Surrey to come out with a “jump” so as not to give the Express a chance of a momentum swing and it was obvious that they had our “broadcast feed” piped into the  room as jump was what they came out with.

It only took Wesley to put the Eagles up by a 3-1 margin a short-lived 27 seconds into the third with Robert and the overdue Westgard finally getting on the board  which allowed them to maintain the lead well into the period.

From this point the game took an interesting twist as Winslow was assessed a minor for holding at 2:27 in and while this was being assessed, but not reported the official in front of the bench was quick to turn and give Eagles bench boss what is commonly known as the “old heave hoe” assessing him a Game Misconduct to the shock of everyone in the building, including Express fans.

As one would expect this can motivate any team and while the Eagles were shocked not knowing why, they played somewhat tentative, but soon regained their composure, but not until after they allowed the Express to get one more.

The Express managed to reply at 13:04 with Linell notching his 6th of the season pulling the Express within one, but being an Eagle supporter you knew they weren’t finished quite yet.

With the Express trailing by a 3-2 margin the Eagles threw some massive shots at Stevenson, who at times was “flopping like a seal out of water” keeping his team in the game.

It wasn’t until the 16:19 mark that Brushett notched his 6th of the season getting set up from Connor Sundquist who was smiling probably due to the fact his Father is visiting from Glastonbury, Connecticut.

Despite the game delay the end result saw the Eagles collect their 8th win of the season and second in a row tying them in the standings with the Chiefs who also have a record of 8-8-1-1 through 18 games.

The Eagles were 1-6 on the special teams while taking 6 minors good for 12 minutes, not counting the Game Misconduct to the Head Coach, while the Express were 0-5 on special teams collecting 7  minors.

Both tenders played with Stevenson stopping 32 of the 36 shots faced, while Davidson faced 28 turning aside all but two.

FORTISBC PLAYER OF THE GAME

JOHNNY WESLEY (2 goals)

Three Stars:

1st Johnny Wesley (2 Goals)

2nd Jordan Robert (2 Assists)

3rd Joshua Wildauer (1 Goal)

Eagles have a Halloween match-up as they host Prince George Spruce Kings at 4 pm.

Join the Eagles for the post-game skate and grab some Halloween Candy while having fun with the Eagles in the “NEST”.