The Abbotsford Heat beat the Hamilton Bulldogs by a couple of field goals on Friday night, taking the first of back-to-back weekend games 6–0 in front of an appreciative crowd at the AESC. Blair Jones scored twice in his first game back from injury, while Corban Knight got off the schneid with a two-goal, three-point performance of his own after collecting just two assists in his previous nine games. The Heat went 2-for-5 with the man advantage, and obviously had a perfect night on the penalty kill.
The Surrey Eagles kept home advantage in the BCHL Coastal Conference Finals on Saturday night, edging the Alberni Valley Bulldogs 3-2 in overtime. Like the opening game on Friday, game two featured plenty of chances and stellar goaltending at both ends of the ice.
Nic Pierog tipped a point shot past Bulldogs goalie Jay Deo just a buck-eighteen into OT to send the series to Port Alberni with the Eagles up two games to nothing. The rest of the Eagles offence came from the usual suspects, as Brady Shaw and Adam Tambellini scored in regulation. Those two players sit atop the playoff scoring race with twelve points apiece.
Nearly 1,200 fans were treated to a dramatic opening game of the Coastal Conference Final on Friday night, as the Surrey Eagles edged the Alberni Valley Bulldogs 1-0 to keep home ice advantage in the best-of-seven series. Demico Hannoun scored on a breakaway, and Michael Santaguida earned his third shutout of the playoffs in game that was tightly contested in all areas of the ice.
Brady Shaw and Michael Stenerson earned assists on Hannoun’s goal, which came with just 1:21 remaining in regulation time. Shaw was prominent in the Bulldogs zone all night long, but didn’t get the bounces until his pass found Hannoun all alone. It was the Eagles’ 33rd shot on Bulldogs goaltender Jay Deo, who was especially solid in the first period when the Eagles held a substantial edge in play.
More on the game, including additional pictures, after the break.
The top-of-the-league Abbotsford Heat were back in action on Friday night to take on the decidedly not-the-top-of-the-league Hamilton Bulldogs. With hundreds of Canadiens fans in the building to watch les petits Habitants, Abbotsford arranged to have Habs legend Yvan Cournoyer – he of the TEN Stanley Cup rings – in the building to drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff. Pucked in the Head absolutely did not intentionally delay our arrival so that we could share the elevator with him and get a picture. Mr. Cournoyer, who I’m happy to report is a very nice man who appeared not at all perturbed by two fanboys asking for his photograph in an elevator, cheerfully commented that he hoped it would be a good game. It was not. Well, not for the Bulldogs, it wasn’t.