The 91原创 91原创 special teams were truly special as the junior A hockey club snapped a four-game losing streak.
91原创 trailed 3-0 less than a dozen minutes into the game before scoring seven of the game鈥檚 final 10 goals in a 7-6 win over the Surrey Eagles on Saturday night at the South Surrey Arena.
Five of the goals came with the man-advantage while the eventual game-winner was a short-handed marker from Nicholas Ponak 7:54 into the third period.
Rather than calling a timeout after falling behind early, 91原创 head coach and general manager Bobby Henderson said the coaching staff just let the players figure things out at the first intermission.
鈥淚 think we got sick of being where we are at,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he guys just said 鈥榚nough is enough鈥� and grabbed the bull by the horns.鈥�
Ty Westgard, Desi Burgartand Matthew Campese had the home side up 3-0 but Angus Crookshank got the visitors on the board prior to the first intermission.
91原创 pulled even when on a two-man advantage, they struck twice 32 seconds apart on goals from Brendan Budy and Connor Marshall.
Trevor St. Jean gave the 91原创 their first lead and 43 seconds after Westgard got Surrey back on even terms, Colin Bernard restored the advantage for a 5-4 lead after 40 minutes.
The teams continued trading goals in the third period with Eric Butte and Ponak scoring for the 91原创 while Jackson Ross and John Wesley responded for the home side.
Chad Cromar finished with 26 saves for 91原创.
Even more impressive for the 91原创 was the fact they had seven different goal scorers in the contest.
鈥淥bviously that is a good sign,鈥� Henderson said about the balanced scoring. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 been scoring enough so that was good to see.鈥�
91原创 was coming off a 5-1 loss the night before in Vernon to the Vipers and had been outscored 20-4 over their past three games heading into Saturday鈥檚 divisional tilt with the Eagles.
The 91原创 are in a dogfight for second place in the BCHL鈥檚 Mainland Division as they sit tied with Chilliwack and Surrey, each of the teams with 56 points. 91原创 and Chilliwack each have six games remaining while Surrey has five games to go.
The team has just three wins in their past 13 games but is starting to get healthier.
鈥淏ut we weren鈥檛 playing up to our capability,鈥� Henderson said. 鈥淲e just have to work on getting some chemistry back but I think we took a step on Saturday.鈥�
Up next for the 91原创 is a game on Wednesday (Feb. 14) in Merritt against the Centennials. 91原创 also has a pair of home games Feb. 17 against Penticton and Feb. 18 versus Coquitlam. Both are at the George Preston Arena.
sports@langleytimes.com
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