Through the first few rounds of BC Hockey League playoffs, the Surrey Eagles – like trapeze artists – swung through the competition with the greatest of ease, compiling a near-perfect 10-1 record, including two series sweeps.
It gets harder now. Much harder.
The Eagles are set to begin the battle for the Fred Page Cup Friday against the Interior Conference champion Penticton Vees, who are the defending BCHL champs and one year removed from a junior-hockey record 41-game winning streak.
However, despite sweeping the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in the Coastal Conference finals, Surrey head coach Matt Erhart insists the series was far from easy, and will serve as good preparation for the Vees.
“We had two overtime games (against Alberni), one where we won by one (in regulation time) – it was tight every game,” said Erhart, whose team will have had more than a week between games when the finals begins tomorrow.
“People have asked me how excited the guys were after (winning Game 4), and honestly, they were just exhausted.
“Playing four games in five nights, they were more tired than anything. I’ve seen them more excited after other games. It was a tight series.”
Surrey and Penticton teams had nearly identical records in the regular season, both finishing with 35 wins. Surrey had 78 points to the Vees’ 75 by virtue playing three more tie games.
The two teams met twice during the regular season – both in January – with the Vees winning once in overtime, and Surrey winning the rematch 2-1.
“It should be fun. we had a couple of good games against them in the regular season, and we have watched a lot of game film on them already.” said Penticton head coach Fred Harbinson. “It’s always fun when you get down to the final two teams, and its a privilege to be able to play in the final.”
Compare the two clubs’ rosters, and it gets no easier to separate them, no easier to find one team with a marked advantage over the other.
Penticton had two of the league’s top scorers in University of North Dakota-bound Wade Murphy and John Seimer; Surrey counters with snipers Brady Shaw – a former Vee – and Adam Tambellini, the latter of whom will, as luck would have it, be a teammate of Murphy’s next season at North Dakota.
“I feel like we’ve always battled them hard. My old linemate (Shaw) is on that team, so I know them pretty well,” said Siemer.
The Vees have one of B.C.’s top offensive defencemen in Troy Stecher, who had 47 points in 52 regular-season games, while the Eagles have puck-moving blue-liners Devon Toews and Craig Wyszomirski, both of whom are key figures in the Eagles’ offensive attack.
Neither team can even one-up the other in the playoff-performer category – Penticton’s Louie Nanne, for example, leads the Okanagan team in playoff scoring with 11 points in nine games, despite tallying just 41 regular-season points. His play in the post-season has been just as impressive as that of Surrey forward Michael Stenerson, who – despite occasionally being overshadowed on the Eagles’ roster by Shaw and Tambellini – has six goals and 14 points in just 11 games.
And third-liner Nic Pierog has five goals, too – two of them overtime winners against Alberni Valley.
“Our top three scorers from the regular season are our top three scorers in the playoffs, so our big guys are playing like big-time players,” Erhart said.
“And it’s the same for the other teams’ guys. What makes the difference is when you get contributions from your other guys, from the Pierogs and Trevor Camerons.”
Where the Eagles may have an edge – ever-so-slightly – is in goal, where the red-hot Michael Santaguida has arguably been the league’s best playoff performer.
Santaguida has posted three shutouts in 11 games, and a sparkling save-percentage of .956.
“I know what they can and can’t do. Their goalie is pretty much what saves them most games,” Seimer said.
Santaguida’s counterpart in Penticton, 19-year-old Notre Dame University recruit Chad Katunar, is no slouch either. He’s 7-1 in the post-season and has stopped pucks at a .922 clip.
And for those who believe in such things as fate, the Eagles may have another advantage in their quest to claim a BCHL title and advance further.
The winner of the Fred Page Cup will advance to the Western Canada Cup, in Nanaimo from April 27-May 5, where the B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba champions, along with the host Nanaimo Clippers, will vie for two berths in this year’s Royal Bank Cup, which is being hosted in Summerside, PEI.
The first time the Eagles advanced all the way to the Royal Bank Cup, in 1997, the tournament was hosted in Summerside.
The last time the Eagles won the Fred Page Cup was in 2005, when they defeated Vernon Vipers in five games.
Friday’s opening puck drop is set for 7:15 p.m. at South Surrey Arena; Game 2 is Saturday at the same time, also in South Surrey.
– with files from Emanuel Sequiera
