It was a bit of a rough weekend at home for the North Island Peewee Eagles, as they ended up dropping back-to-back playoff games.
The Eagles squared off against the Tier 2 Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Saturday at the Doug Bondue Arena in Port Alice, and while they put up a good fight against a very tough opponent, the Eagles would lose 7-4 to the visiting team.
Coach Glenn Moore felt the Eagles “played a good hockey team and I was pleased and proud of how the fellas played,” adding the Eagles managed to challenge “a team that played and did well in Tier 2 this season.”
The Eagles were determined to rebound from the loss the next day against the Nanaimo Clippers at the Chilton Regional Arena.
“Our game plan was simple,” said Moore. “Be the team we want to be, which is a pressure team.”
The Eagles came out firing in the first period with back-to-back goals from Jack Barrett and Ty Morash. Eagles sniper Zach Spafford then scored from the front of the net at 12:17 to make it 3-0 for the home team.
The Clippers dug in their heels at that point, scoring two goals of their own courtesy of Marco Schwager, bringing the Clippers within one of tying the game.
The Eagles would return fire after that, with goals coming from Kale Hunt and Morash to make it 5-2.
In the second period, the Clippers would be the one to strike first. Carter Cathers found the twine at 17:54, and then Tyler Campbell scored after that to cut the Eagles lead to one again.
Lucca Stewart and Barrett would both score before the end of the second period, giving the Eagles a big 7-4 lead.
The Clippers weren’t done however, and they ended up scoring five unanswered goals throughout the third period to give them the lead 9-7.
Spafford would score one more goal with 2:51 left on the clock, but that was all she wrote for the Eagles, as the Clippers managed to pull off a heartbreaking 9-8 come-from-behind victory.
After the game, Moore said the team knew going in “we were going to have to score a bunch of goals, but unfortunately with gaps in our defensive game we gave up too many.”
He added the loss is going to “sting for a long time.”
The Eagles were gracious in defeat, and they played as hard as they possibly could for all three periods, truly living up to one Moore’s motivational quotes that he likes to use with the team:
“Never get too high or too low, and always stay classy.”
The Eagles still have three playoff games left, and will be back in action down island on Feb. 3 against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
