The Surrey Eagles are headed to the BCHL finals for the first time in nine seasons.
The Eagles punched their ticket to the Fred Page Cup championship Tuesday night on Vancouver Island, after a 5-2 win over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. The win gave the Birds a 4-0 series sweep. They also took Game 3 in Port Alberni Monday, winning 3-2 in overtime.
“We ran into a team that had a little more luck than we did. But at the end of the day (our) guys can’t hang their heads low,” said Bulldogs head coach Kevin Willison.
“They’ve got (Adam) Tambellini, (Devon) Toews, (Brady) Shaw, and (Michael) Santaguida, so they’re solid top to bottom.”
The Eagles are now 10-1 (won-lost) in the post-season, having previously swept the Chilliwack Chiefs in a best-of-five series after defeating the Langley Rivermen 3-1.
As has been the case for Surrey since the playoffs began, goaltender Santaguida led the way Tuesday, stopping 36 shots. He was even better in Game 3, stopping 49 of 51 Bulldog shots on goal. In 11 playoff games, he has three shutouts and a league-best .956 save-percentage.
Despite playing in the unfriendly confines of Alberni’s Weyerhaeuser Arena, Surrey – coming off Monday’s dramatic OT win – could smell blood in the water in Game 4, and jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes on goals from Shaw, Craig Wyszomirski and Michael Stenerson, who had a pair in the second period.
In the third, Bulldogs Ryan Buse and Manny Gialedakis scored twice in less than three minutes to pull the home team to within two goals, but Stenerson completed the hat-trick and sealed the win with an empty-net goal in the game’s final minute.
In Game 3, Nic Pierog was the star for the second consecutive game, potting the overtime winner when Bulldogs’ netminder Jay Deo misplayed a puck outside his crease. The puck ended up on the stick of Eagles’ forward Drew Best, who slid it to Pierog for the goal. Pierog also scored the OT winner in Game 2 at South Surrey Arena.
Tambellini and Shaw also scored in the game for the visitors.
The Eagles now await the winner of the Interior Conference final between the Penticton Vees and West Kelowna Warriors. Penticton leads that series 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for tonight (Thursday) in Penticton.
The Fred Page Cup finals begin April 12 in South Surrey, with the BC Hockey League champion moving on to the Western Canada Cup April 27 to May 5 in Nanaimo. Champions of the BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba will compete with the host Nanaimo Clippers for a Western Canadian championship as well as two berths in the Royal Bank Cup national championship tournament in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
– with files from Wawmeesh G. Hamilton & Rick Kupchuk
