Black Press Sports
B.C.’s best team is also Western Canada’s best. The Surrey Eagles won the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup Saturday night in Nanaimo, defeating the Brooks Bandits 4-1 before 1,130 fans at Frank Crane Arena.
The Bandits iced the Yorkton Terriers 1-0 Sunday before 880 fans to claim the second WCC berth in the Royal Bank Cup, starting Saturday in Summerside, PEI. The Minnesota Wilderness (Central Ontario region), Truro Bearcats (Maritime champions) and Summerside Western Capitals (host) are the other entries.
“At the beginning of the season, if you asked me if we would have won, it wouldn’t have crossed my mind,” said Demico Hannoun, Surrey’s player of the game. “But it’s a great feeling right now.”
The BCHL champions calmly killed off a number of penalties and got goals from Jordan Klimek, Hannoun, Drew Best and Craig Wyszomirski. Cam Maclise responded for the Bandits, who outshot Surrey 41-30.
Kelowna product Brett Mulcahy, Eagles’ captain, said his team’s depth on both forward and defence were factors, along with shut-down goaltending from Michael Santaguida, named Top Goalie in the tournament. D-man Devon Toews of Surrey was chosen MVP.
“Everyone contributed, it seemed, just what they needed to do – scoring, blocking shots, getting pucks out of the zone,” he said. “It was a great team effort.”
Yorkton toppled the host Clippers 5-3 Saturday afternoon before 1,100 fans.
“I don’t think we were quite as consistent as we wanted to be,” said Vernon’s Trevor Fitzgerald, Clippers’ captain. “A couple breakdowns, but that happens in the game of hockey. We needed to be better, more consistent, more mature.”
Brock Maschmeyer, the Clippers’ player of the game, said there are no regrets.
“We came out to win and didn’t get the … results I wish we could have,” he said. “I believe we could have taken every single team. It just [depended] whether or not we were going to show up that day.”
Fitzgerald, too, felt his team was right there with the best in Western Canada.
“We played good hockey for the majority of the tournament, but it’s consistency that cost us our season in the end,” he said. “And that’s something that all the other teams that are here have, is consistency. They won championships because of that exact reason.”
Vernon’s Colten Dahlen, a defenceman, also played for the Clippers, coached by former Viper bench boss Mike Vandekamp.
