Birds Fall to Bandits

The Surrey Eagles fell to 3-1 in the round robin at the RBC Cup in Summerside, PEI after a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Brooks Bandits on Thursday afternoon at Credit Union Place. Dan O'Keefe and Trevor Cameron had the goals for Surrey in a losing cause.

Brooks came firing out of the gate, and the Bandits tallied three times in the opening seven minutes of the game. Brandon Bruce opened the scoring just over a minute in when he chipped a rebound past Michael Santaguida. Mark Reners made it 2-0 after a nice play by Dakota Mason to find him in the slot with a pass off the left wing, and Tyson McCallum scored in his first game of the tournament at 6:52. Surrey's best chance of the period came in the late stages when Brett Mulcahy wired a shot off the post, but the Birds couldn't find the net in the first.

The Bandits continued their barrage of goals in the second period. Anthony Petruzzelli scored to put the Alberta club ahead by four after an odd bounce in the Surrey zone left him alone in front with lots of time to beat Santaguida. Cam Maclise added to the Brooks lead when he chipped a rebound into the Surrey net at 7:43. The Birds responded with a pair of goals of their own in the latter stages of the frame. Dan O'Keefe scored his first as an Eagle when a centring pass bounced off his leg and past Brooks goalie Michael Fredrick to put Surrey on the board, and Trevor Cameron scored shorthanded, dipsy-doodling through the Bandits' defense before undressing Fredrick to make it 5-2.

Surrey tried to battle back in the third period, but the Birds couldn't beat Fredrick. The Eagles got into some penalty trouble in the late stages of the game, stunting their comeback attempt, and the Bandits clinched the first seed coming out of the round robin with the victory.

Neither side scored on the power play in the game as the Eagles went 0-for-4 while the Bandits were 0-for-7. Brooks out shot Surrey 36-24.

As a result of the loss, the Eagles will finish either second or third, depending on the results of the Thursday night game between the Summerside Western Capitals and Truro Bearcats. Either way, the Eagles will face Summerside in the semi-finals on Saturday. The opening face-off will be at 2:00pm PT/6:00pm AT.

Surrey Player of the Game: Dan O'Keefe

Brooks Player of the Game: Chris Muscoby

My 3 Stars:
1. Anthony Petruzzelli - Brooks
2. Cam Maclise - Brooks
3. Chris Muscoby - Brooks