A busy week of hockey begins for the Rivermen tonight, who travel to South Surrey to battle the Eagles. The ‘Riv are coming off an interior road swing where they beat Trail 5-1 last Friday, and lost a close one to Penticton 4-3 a night later. Surrey will be looking to get back in the win column after dropping their last couple of games.
The month of October has been a pleasant one for the Rivermen with five wins and two losses thus far, and overall, sit second in the Mainland Division with a 8-4-0-0 record for 16 points. Wenatchee is in first place with two more points, but Langley does have a game in hand. For the Eagles, it has been a struggle through 12 games with a 3-9-0-0 record. Getting back on their home ice will be a welcome sight, as all three of their wins have come at the South Surrey Arena. In 18 all-time regular season games at the Eagles nest, the Rivermen are 9-6-0-3, and dating back to last season, have won their last five games there.
The ‘Men received a big boost last weekend with starting goaltender Bo Didur returning to the line-up. Before suiting up in Trail last Friday, he missed the previous seven games with an injury. The former Eagles puck stopper has appeared in five games this season and has a 3-1-0 record with a 2.00 GAA and a .944 save percentage. Up front, forward Justin Fregona is heating up again, as he recorded three goals last weekend. His season goal total is at nine, which puts him seventh in BCHL goal scoring. On the other side, the Eagles are led by a great set-up man in 20 year-old defenseman Kodi Schwarz. Although he has yet to hit the back of the net, Schwarz leads the team in assists and points with 12. In goal, they have a young 17 year-old in Daniel Davidson who owns a 2-2-0 record, to go along with a 2.65 GAA and a .926 save percentage.
In the season series, the Rivermen are 1-0 against the Eagles after opening up their season with a 6-3 win at the South Surrey Arena back on September 11th. These two Mainland rivals can get use to seeing one another, as they will play each other a total of three times over the next 17 days.
Face-off is at 7:00pm from the SSA and can be seen live on www.fasthockey.com.
