Revenge is a dish best served cold, and the North Island Bantam Eagles definitely got themselves a piece.
The Eagles had an important two-game series down island on the weekend, with the first game on Saturday against the Victoria Racquet Club Tier 1 Kings.
The Eagles would jump out to an early lead in the first, thanks to Tye Morash converting at 14:36, assisted by captain William Grant.
The Kings’ Jonathan Attwell would tie things up with a goal at 3:42, assisted by Jordan Smith and Graeme Lawrence, but the Eagles would once again take the lead back in the second period with Landon Turgeon finding the back of the net with 3:52 left on the clock.
Into the third period the game went, and the Kings’ Mike Tianching Yang would score at 10:19 to make it 2-2.
With less than eight minutes left to play, Turgeon would take matters into his own hands and once again convert, this time on the power play at 7:28 (assisted by Jack Barrett and Zach Spafford) to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead, which is how the game came to an end.
According to head coach Glenn Moore, the Kings were a tough group “and it took a power play goal midway through the third period to get the 3-2 win. The secondary story was their goalie — we out shot them 48-18 and he robbed a few of our guys in close with what looked like sure goals.”
Moore noted that thanks to the Eagles being seriously challenged by the Kings, they were ready to go on Sunday in a rematch against the only team to beat them so far in league play this season, the Juan De Fuca Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies had previously pulled off a stunning 6-4 third period comeback victory over the Eagles Nov. 2 in Port Hardy, but this time the Eagles were more than ready for them.
The Eagles hammered the Grizzlies with five goals over three periods, courtesy of Spafford x2, Morash, Grant and Turgeon, assists going to Grant x2, Turgeon, Lucca Stewart, Barrett, Adam Russell and goaltender Logan Lamothe, giving them a big 5-2 win.
The Grizzlies lone scorers were Jakob Fikowski and Benjamin Swan (assists going to Logan Bainbridge, Leon Edmund Okubo Willett, and Cole Sather).
Moore was pleased to see the Eagles score on the first shift of the game, noting the boys “played a very solid game and we were in control for most of it. I think we remembered how we had a lead in the third against this team in Hardy only to lose 6-4, so they were determined that was not going to be the case again.”
Moore added that every player on the team had moments where they “did something to help us achieve our goal of two road wins.”
Next up for the Eagles is a road game against the Comox Valley Chiefs Dec. 7 and then a home game against the Oceanside Generals Dec. 8.
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