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Kings finish homestand with 2 wins over Eagles

Weekend recap is presented by Iris Optometry.

This weekend marked the end of the Kings 8 game homestand and the end of the 2022 home schedule as they hosted the Surrey Eagles came into this weekend series with a 18-5-1-0 record which includes a 7-0 win over Kings the in the first meeting of the season back in November.

On Friday it was the Kings who got off to the hot start just 3:16 into the period when Cam Symons went in on a breakaway and beat Eagles goalie Eli Pulver with a backhander to score his 5th of the season, and in the process extended his point streak to 9 games and goal streak to 4. The Eagles would manage to tie it up in the final moments of the period when Zach Wagnon put home a loose puck to send his team all square after the opening frame.

The Kings would get off to another quick start in the second, this time just 2:58 in when former Eagle Alex Sandhu found himself alone in front of the net and send his backhand top shelf for his first goal as a member of the Kings. As you would expect the Eagles would look to even the score but Kyle Metson came up with a handful of big saves in his new all green pads to keep the Kings up by one after two periods.

In the third the Kings extended their lead, first at 7:43 when Casey Aman drove to the net and attempted a cross ice pass but it hit the stick of former Kings Ross Roloson and went into the Eagles net for Aman’s 4th of the season. Then just over a minute later the Kings had some more puck luck when Jack Blanchett’s wrist shot hit the stick of another former Kings Ethan Riesterer and into the Eagles net once again for his 9th which leads all BCHL defenceman and more importantly gave the Kings a 4-1. The home side would shut the door after that as they held on for the victory outshooting the Eagles 36-25.

 

The rematch would go down the next night on Saturday as the Kings were in search of their first 3 game win streak of the season.

The Kings set the tone early once more in this one with another early goal on the first shot of the game when Max Potvin passed to Karter McNarland who buried his 5th 3:40 into the game. The lead would turn to two 1:18 later after Dylan Hewlett made a great move to set up Anthony Lucarelli who notched his 7th. The Kings wern’t done just yet as they would add another goal when Anthony Yu scored his 12th putting in the rebound off a Dylan Hewlett shot as it was 3-0 just 10 minutes in. After a slow start the Eagles began to wake up and would score 90 seconds after Anthony Yu’s goal when Jake Bongo scored off a 2 on 1. The Kings would hold a 3-1 after the first period and outshot the visitors 19-5.

In the second the Eagles showed why they were one of the best in the BCHL right from the opening faceoff as former Kings Jacob Bonkowski scored 50 seconds into the period after a long shift in the offensive zone. Shortly after Cam Symons who collided with Eagles forward Aaron Swartz in the neutral zone and Eagles forward Cole Galata took exception and ended up dropping the gloves with Symons. It was a spirited tilt with both guys getting there shots in. The fight would spell the end of the night for both players as Cam Symons saw his point and goal streak come to an unfortunate end. The Eagles would take advantage of the momentum from the fight and tied the game halfway through the period off a nice passing play in which Trent Wilson finished. 4 minutes later Surrey would complete the comeback and take the lead when Ethan Riesterer scored against his former team as it was 4-3 Eagles. It was a rough period for the Kings at that point but the Riesterer goal awoken the Kings and would rally in the final 5 minutes. Sam Belanger would score his first of the season at 15:16 after his point shot hit an Eagle in front of the net and snuck by Michael Sochan to tie it up a 4. Then with 1.7 seconds left in the period Ryder Ringor was open in the slot and made no mistake scoring his 3rd to put the Kings back up 5-4. However on that play Parker Lalonde went down with injury after being taken down by Eagles defender Josh Wessels. Lalonde left the game and didn’t return.

With a one goal lead the Kings who started the game with 11 forwards were down to 9 and had to withstand an onslaught of pressure from the Eagles. The Kings would face a lot of adversity in the period including having to kill two penalties in the period but they stood tall and made life tough for the Eagles. The good guys would add two empty netters from Nic Porchetta and Anthony Lucarelli while Kyle Metson stopped at 11 shots he faced as the Kings defeated the Eagles 7-4.

With the victory the Kings win 3 games in a row for the first time this season, and finished their homestand with a winning record of 5-3 and now are 9-14-1-2 overall this season. Up next the Kings will hit the road for two games before the Christmas break as they head over to the island. First on Friday the Kings will be in Duncan to take on the Capitals then will take in the Grizzlies in Victoria on Saturday. Both games are at 7pm.

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