The first Surrey Eagles’ team to capture a Royal Bank Cup national title has been inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame, along with a handful of others – including Surrey’s Karen Wallace, who helped advance women’s hockey in the province.
The 1997-’98 Eagles – who won a national junior ‘A’ hockey crown in Nanaimo after dispatching the Weyburn Red Wings in the championship game – were inducted into the hall of fame’s team category, while Wallace, who passed away in 2018, will join the hall in the ‘builders’ division.
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Other inductees in the 2019 hall-of-fame class include former Vancouver Canuck superstars Henrik and Daniel Sedin, longtime St. Louis Blues defenceman Barret Jackman; former NHL player and longtime Canuck scout and executive Ron Delorme and veteran NHL official Shane Heyer.
Shortly after the news was announced Monday, Mark Holick – a South Surrey resident who was in his first season as head coach of the Eagles during the ’97-’98 campaign – called the induction “a tremendous honour.”
The 1998 Royal Bank Cup title is the only national junior ‘A’ championship the Eagles have ever won, though the team has multiple BC Hockey League titles, and did return to the RBC Cup tournament in 2013, where they lost to the Summerside Capitals in the semifinals.
A year before they won in ’98, the Eagles – led by Semiahmoo Minor Hockey coach and all-time BCHL scoring leader Shane Kuss – also advanced to the Royal Bank tournament, but finished second after a 4-3 loss to Summerside in the final game.
Last spring – which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the ’98 championship team – team captain Kris Wilson told Peace Arch News that the team wasn’t expected to contend for a BCHL title, let alone a national one, considering they’d lost many veterans, including Kuss, from the team that finished second the year before.
“There’s just so many memories I have with that team – and especially that year, because of that success we had that season, and really, weren’t supposed to have, I guess… in the preseason polls, I want to say we were ranked like third in our own division,” Wilson told PAN. “On our part, we felt that was kind of a slight.”
Other players on the RBC Cup team included Matt Erhart – who coaches with Semiahmoo Minor Hockey alongside Kuss – Langley’s Brian Herbert and a slew of players who went on to play pro, including Alberta native Mike Bishai, who ended up playing 14 games in the NHL with his hometown Edmonton Oilers.
Wallace, according to a BC Hockey Hall of Fame news release, “was an integral part of women’s hockey development in British Columbia.” She was secretary of both North Delta Minor Hockey and the Pacific Junior ‘B’ Hockey League, director of BC Female Hockey and the winner of the 1999 Breakthrough Award.
Among her achievements was the successful launch of the Under-18 women’s championships and Hockey Canada’s girls program of excellence, the release notes. Her obituary last spring also states that Wallace served on the council that was instrumental in brining women’s hockey into the Olympic games.
The BC Hockey Hall of Fame induction dinner is set for Penticton’s Lakeside Resort on Friday, July 19.
Tremendous honour for our 1997-98 South Surrey Eagles RBC Champions to be inducted into the @BCHHoF in the class of 2019! Congratulations. #proudcoach
— Mark Holick (@coachholly68) February 11, 2019
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