The North Island Peewee Eagles led a few lambs to the slaughter at the Chilton Regional Arena in Port McNeill.
The Eagles had played in the Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association’s Tier Two division all season, posting a solid 5-6-1 record with 66 goals for and 82 goals against, before dropping back down to Tier Three for round robin playoff action, and the experience the team had gained from playing against tougher competition definitely shined through on the weekend.
The Eagles had a date with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs first on Saturday, and they got out to a quick start early on, scoring four goals in the first period thanks to Jack Barrett (x2), Landon Turgeon, and Zack Spafford (assists went to Spafford (x2), Lucca Stewart, and Barrett).
With a big 4-1 lead in hand, the Eagles continued to pressure throughout the second period, scoring five times courtesy of Spafford (x3) and Barrett (x2), making it 9-1.
Spafford wasn’t quite done scoring yet, though. He notched another hat trick in the third period, giving him seven goals in one game, propelling the Eagles to a blowout 12-4 victory.
After the big victory over the Bulldogs, the Eagles would go on to play the Cowichan Valley Capitals, a team that had played Tier Four all season.
This game was not close by any stretch of the imagination, as the Eagles ended up destroying the Capitals 19-4. Goals were scored by Barrett (x4), Turgeon (x3), Stewart (x3), Maddox Peterson, Tanner Livingston, Spafford (x4), Isaiah Therrien, Bryson Hall, and Yuri Noel.
After the game, assistant coach Chad Mackenzie stated “This was our first weekend of playoffs and it was great to play in front of the home crowd. There was lots of positive support from the fans, along with two awesome games from the atom Eagles that set the bar pretty high. The peewee team brought a very honest effort, with contributions coming from every aspect of our group. The excitement level in and around the team is quite favourable and will be great momentum to carry us on in our playoff march.”
The Eagles next game “is going to be a real challenge as we play on the road against the Tier Three provincial hosts, Powell River, a team that has always been a worthy adversary for the Eagles,” added Mackenzie.
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