December 6, 2024, Surrey vs Powell River:
The Eagles had a good month in November, going 6-1-2 , and they are hot coming into this one. The Eagles ended November on a 4-game winning streak and scored 15 goals across those games. The Eagles’ offence has been firing on all cylinders as of late and there have been many contributors, but one of the biggest has been Sihwan Kim who, before the loss to Trail, was on a 4-game point streak and had 12 points in 9 games in November. The Powell River Kings remember Kim well. He’s had 4 points against The Kings in 2 games this season and had his best game in November against them, where he exploded for 3 assists, one of which led to Jonathan Lanza’s game-winning goal, helping the Eagles cruise to a 5-1 win. Powell River comes into this one after a 5-game home stand in which they went 1-4 with a goal differential of -20. The Kings will look to get back into the W category after falling to the Vees 7-0, and there’s a good chance that they will lean on goaltender Vincent Lamberti , who recently stood on his head to steal a 2-0 win against the Vernon Vipers, getting his first shutout of the season. But if the Kings want to get it done against the Eagles, they will have to score some goals and one of the main guys they will look to for that is UConn commit Brendan Giles. Giles has not had a point in 4 games, but before that, he had 2 goals and 3 points in 3 games so he will try to get back on track against the Eagles, which could be easier said than done considering the Eagles have only given up 9 goals in their last 5 games.
December 13, 2024 Surrey vs Coquitlam:
The Express come to the nest after coming back down to earth a bit since their great start to the year having lost their last 4. The Express have had some defensive troubles as of late, giving up 25 goals in their last 5 games. Look for goaltender Eric Young to have a chip on his shoulder after getting pulled against Prince George, or they could go to former Vee Andrew Ness between the pipes. Coquitlam may have to outscore their defensive issues, which is very much possible with the likes of Joseph Odyniec, James Shannon, and newly acquired Mason Kesselring. Kesselring has come to the Express from the Rivermen and has made a huge impact with 9 points in 8 games, 6 of which have been goals. Coquitlam has 2 more games to right the ship before the meeting with Surrey. The last time the Express played the Eagles was at the train station and it was a close one; Surrey narrowly got by with a 4-2 win thanks to a 2-goal effort from Brady Kudrick and some great penalty-killing due to the heroics of Maddox Osaka who got his first win in an Eagle uniform helping kill off 5 penalties, 4 of which came in the 3rd frame. The Eagles will try to continue their strong 200-foot game they have been playing as of late, having 3 games before they meet with the Express.
December 20, 2024, Surrey vs Alberni Valley:
The last game of 2024 for the Eagles sees the Bulldogs come to town for a rematch of the third round of the 2023/2024 playoffs , and that series was a heated one as it came down to the wire. The Eagles needed all seven games to get the job done, winning game 7 3-2. It’s 2024 now, though, and Alberni has been great up to this point in the season, sitting at 2nd in the Coastal division. This will be their first time this season that the Bulldogs get to try and exact some revenge against Surrey. The Bulldogs have been no stranger to close games, currently having the most OT wins. Alberni hasn’t been lighting the lamp much this season, only scoring 80 goals on the year, but they know how to keep the puck out of their net, having only given up 73 goals, which is good enough for third in the Coastal division thanks to the play of their goaltending tandem of Colin Winn and Ryder Shea. The Eagles will have to crack the Bulldogs’ great defensive game if they want to win. Thankfully, the offense has found a rhythm lately with Miles Burgin and Gavin Rocha starting to heat up heading into December. The Eagles will have to keep that up for a little bit longer as they have 5 games before the matchup with Alberni.
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