Much-improved Eagles next challenge for Kings

The Surrey Eagles used to be cannon fodder for their B.C. Hockey League opponents.

Last season they won just seven of 58 games and finished dead-last in the 17team league.

Nobody’s taking the Eagles lightly now, not after they took three of a possible four points away from the top team in the Mainland Division, the Wenatchee Wild, in a pair of games this week in Surrey.

They spanked the Wild 6-1 Thursday night, handing the league’s only American team its first regulation loss this season, having pushed the Wild to overtime before losing 6-5 on Sunday.

That will no doubt raise the Eagles’ hopes they can come into Prince George and give the Spruce Kings trouble in a two-game series tonight and Sunday afternoon at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.

The Spruce Kings have been no slouches lately either. On Thursday they knocked off the visiting Chilliwack Chiefs, the secondplace team in the Mainland, in a convincing 4-1 victory that ended an extended drought.

Leading up to that game, the Spruce Kings had lost 13 straight regular-season games to the Chiefs, who won all six last season. Prince George hadn’t defeated the Chiefs since Dec. 5, 2014.

Thursday’s win lifted the Spruce Kings (58-0-1) into third place in the division, tied in points with Langley and Coquitlam (all with 11), one point ahead of Surrey (4-7-2-0).

The Eagles have seven players operating at a point-per-game pace or better. Centre Paul McAvoy, a Colgate University recruit, leads the team in scoring with five goals and 16 points. Darius Davidson is their leading goalscorer with 10, and also has four assists. Another player to watch is Ashton Calder, a native of Michigan who had five goals and nine points in just seven games since joining the Eagles from Minnesota of the NAHL.

Michael Botiz has been getting most of the starts in the Surrey nets and sports a 3.80 goalsagainst average and .895 save percentage.

In the Kings’ crease, Stefan Wornig has allowed just two goals in his last three starts. The 19-year-old from Surrey made 27 saves against the Chiefs, allowed the only goal in the Spruce Kings’ 1-0 loss to Powell River, and posted his first shutout of the season a week ago in an 8-0 win over Alberni Valley.

Brett Mennear (7-9-16) has been dynamite lately playing on a forward line with Jamie Huber (4-7-11) and Tanner Campbell (4-5-9), who has been playing with a lot more confidence the past month. Mennear, 20, has been recruited to play next season at Bentley University, an NCAA Division 1 team based in Waltham, Mass.

The Kings are also getting offence from their defencemen. Adam Burnett ranks fourth in team scoring with nine points, including one goal, and Connor Russell (42-6) and Tyler Anderson (3-2-5) have been on a bit of a tear of late, generating points.

Game time tonight is 7 p.m. Sunday’s game starts at 3 p.m.