It was a game that saw plenty of penalties handed to the Express, and the Eagles made them pay for their undisciplined play in a 5-1 Eagles win Saturday.
Frustration frustration frustration was a good way to describe the Express' effort at the South Surrey Arena.
The Eagles had a total of 11 powerplays and 10 of them came in the opening 40 minutes.
But to start however, it was the Express getting the head start with the powerplays.
They got a 5 on 3 for 43 seconds less than two minutes into the game when Brandon Tanev was penalized for goaltender interference. That was followed shortly there after by a elbowing penalty to Brandon Morley.
Coquitlam wasn't able to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them and get off on the right foot on the road.
The Eagles held off the Express then got their attack in gear.
Charles Orzetti scored his first BCHL goal when he re-directed Beau Orser's point shot past Khaleed Devji.
That goal woke the Eagles up and they began to apply a little more pressure on the Express. Khaleed Devji did his best to keep the Express in the game with a number tough saves.
As the period wound down, the Express discipline began to get the best of them. Clinton Atkinson was given a double whammy for cross checking and slashing. That was quickly followed by a hooking penalty to Mitchell Fyffe which gave Surrey an extended 5 on 3.
The penalties hurt the Express when Brandon Tanev converted a cross crease feed from Tyler Morley for a tap in.
As the goals started to go in for the Eagles, they began to take flight and found their skating legs.
Surrey added one more goal in the dying seconds of the period when Tyler Morley finished off a 2 on 1 with Sean McGovern with less than 2 seconds remaining in the period.
More Express frustration added more salt to the Express' wound on the third goal when Jason Bird was called for roughing moments after the puck went into the net.
All told the Express were called for 5 penalties in the opening 20 minutes.
The story didn't change when the second period got going.
Steve Koshey scored the Eagles second powerplay goal of the game to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead with Matt Hutchinson and Captain Alex Petan in the penalty box. That goal saw Khaleed Devji's night come to an end to be replaced by Billy McGladrey. Despite allowing the 4 goals, it's hard to place any blame on the shoulders of Devji. He did his best to try and keep his team in the game when his teammates in front of him had a tough time keeping their cool.
The run of 6 straight minors assessed to the Express ended when Charles Orzetti was called for slashing. That penalty lead to the only goal the Express would muster with Alex Kerfoot scoring his third goal in his last two games.
The Eagles rounded out the scoring with Tyler Morley banging home a loose puck for his second goal of the game which came on a powerplay and like his goal in the first period it came in the dying seconds of the middle frame. The goal capped off a 4 point night for the Eagles captain who had two goals and two assists. Younger brother Brandon had a pair of helpers.
All the penalties didn't allow the Express to get all their players an opportunity to see much ice in the opening 40 minutes. It fragmented the lines and forced the penalty killers to spend too much time fending off the Eagles attack.
The third period didn't produce any offence. But it did show what the Express might have been able to do in this game were it not for all the penalties. By then it was too little too late and the game was decided.
Surrey finished the game 3 for 11 on the powerplay. While the Express went 1 for 7.
Khaleed Devji and Billy McGladrey were peppered with a combined 42 shots. While Andrew Hunt turned aside 33 of 34 Express shots.
The loss drops the Express record to 1-3 on this young season. They will travel to Alberni Valley for their second meeting with the Bulldogs in just over a week. Alberni Valley won their home opener over Coquitlam 5-1 last Saturday.
