The Eagles wrapped up the regular season with a home-and-home series against the Coquitlam Express. The Birds picked up three of four points with a convincing 8-1 victory on Friday before falling 3-2 in double overtime on Saturday in the season finale.
Friday, March 8th at Coquitlam
Surrey dominated this game from the opening face-off to the final buzzer. Trevor Cameron got the Eagles on the board in the first minute of the game, and it was all downhill from there. Coquitlam goalie Daniel Urbani was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 12 shots and while Cole Huggins made a couple of big saves after coming into the game, his numbers weren't much better as the Eagles beat him four times on just 14 shots.
Saturday, March 9th vs. Coquitlam
The return match-up at the South Surrey Arena was a much cagier affair. In the end, the Express won the game 3-2 in overtime when former Eagle Brandon Morley setup Michael Maciag for the game winner. All three of Coquitlam's goals came after sloppy turnovers by the Eagles. The loss marked the first time the Birds have been on the wrong end of a game at the SSA since a 2-0 shutout loss on December 16th against Prince George.
Positives from the Week
Despite giving up a third period lead on Saturday, the Eagles clinched the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy with the single point, finishing atop the regular season standings for the first time in 16 years. Maybe even more importantly, they didn't sustain any more serious injuries and will likely be healthier than they've been in weeks when they begin the playoffs on Friday against Langley.
The Surrey power play was strong in both games going a combined 4-for-10 on the weekend. The Birds had set themselves a goal of going at least 25 per cent on the power play in the last six games of the year, and they achieved that goal, scoring on 29.63% of their opportunities with the man advantage in that span.
Michael Stenerson stood out to me as probably the best Eagle player on the weekend. The Surrey native now has a five game goal scoring streak heading into the playoffs and has been peaking at the right time, playing well in both ends of the ice.
Negatives from the Week
The only negative from the performance on Friday was the fact that the Eagles gave up a goal, and even then it came off the rebound of a very nice stop by Michael Santaguida. However, the game on Saturday was a different story. All three Coquitlam goals were direct results of sloppy passes and bad turnovers. The good news for the Eagles is that Saturday was essentially a mean-nothing game, and they'll have an entire week of practice to correct any issues before Friday's playoff opener against the Rivermen.
Goal of the Week
Michael Stenerson's goal vs. Coquitlam on Friday
Save of the Week
Michael Santaguida's stop on Adam Rossignol vs. Coquitlam on Friday
3 Stars of the Week
1. Michael Stenerson
2. Michael Santaguida
3. Trevor Cameron
As you will have noticed if you've followed the blog this season, I've named my own 3 Stars for each game throughout the year. I've tracked the 3 Star standings and with the end of the regular season, I'll now name my 3 Stars of the Year. Each player was awarded five points for every first star, three points for every second star and one point for every third star.
Batch's 3 Stars of the Year
1. Brady Shaw - 56 points
2. Michael Santaguida - 50 points
3. Devon Toews - 31 points
