The U18 North Island Eagles were back in action with two games on the weekend at the Chilton Regional Arena in Port McNeill.
The Eagles had an exhibition game against the Tier 2 Victoria Admirals on Saturday, and they wasted no time getting down to business, scoring two goals in the first period thanks to Jack Barrett and Tyler Roper, with the assist on Barrett’s goal going to Roper.
The Eagles kept firing in the second period, adding two more goals to the scoreboard from Mannie Browne and Zach Spafford (assists going to Christopher Topfer and Adam Russell) to go up 4-0.
The Admirals managed to score twice in the third period courtesy of Tyler Low and Brady Hewitt-Wilcox, assists going to Gavin Bevan, Low and Luca Porter, but the Eagles kept on firing back at their opponent’s net.
Barrett, Spafford, Landon Turgeon and Kale Hunt all scored before the final buzzer to make it an 8-2 blowout. Assists on the four goals went to Roper (x2), Lucca Stewart, Russell, Barrett and Browne. Goaltender Logan Lamothe picked up his second home ice win in a row after backstopping the team to a 6-3 victory over the Oceanside Generals last weekend.
The Eagles were back in action on Sunday against the Admirals for their first game of the regular season, and this one ended up being a bit closer than the previous one.
Neither team managed to score in the first, but it was Bryce Walkus who found the twine at 11:20 of the second period, assisted by Hunt, to break the tie. Spafford would then score on the powerplay at 9:34 to make it 2-0.
The Admirals managed to get the puck past goaltender Griffin Handley at 7:25 thanks to Shunkichi Yamamoto, but the rest of the period belonged to the Eagles, as Turgeon and then Jayden Bucci both scored to make it 4-1 (assists went to Barrett, Roper and Topfer).
The Admirals managed to net the puck again early in the third courtesy of Brixton Mason, but Roper would respond with a goal of his own at 13:40.
With time winding down, the Admirals scored one more goal at 3:36, again from Yamamoto, but it was too little too late, as the Eagles held on to win 5-3.
@NIGazette
editor@northislandgazette.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter