First place Eagles ready to hit the road for rematch with Selkirk College

Eastern Washington University is coming off a split with University of Victoria that saw them lead late in both games but only pick up two points. The young Eagles learned just how hard it can be hold a lead with a hard working group like the Vikes.

Going into a matchup this Friday with the defending champion Selkirk Saints the team will need to learn from mistakes against a desperate team in their home opener.

The Saints find themselves in the unusual position of looking up in the standings after losing their first three games of the season, all on the road. The Eagles and Saints have battled hard once this season in Cheney which saw the Eagles win in a shootout. Both teams were dealing with injuries and depth problems in the first matchup.

The Eagles will be able to feature full lineup this time with Al Maul, Alec Burks, and Chris Watkins all being available for the Eagles now. The Saints have their own injury issues on the blue line that are expected to continue for a little longer.

Regardless of who is and who isn’t available the Eagles staff is focusing the players on getting as many points in the bank as possible.

“In past years we have been chasing teams for playoff spots after the break, we need to put ourselves in a better position early in the season,” said Eagles coach Bret Kellogg.

The Eagles currently lead the league in games played and occupy first place. The Eagles also have two of the top four scores in the league with Beau Walker and Brett Mathews. Walker has been off to a hot start this season and figures to get a lot of attention from the opposition like he did last week against Victoria.

The Eagles success will likely depend on other players contributing to provide more scoring balance. The winning goal came last week when three opposing players tried to cover Walker on the rush leaving Alec Burks wide open for the game winner.

This will be the first road game of the regular season or the Eagles who started with their first five games on home ice. The next five games for the team will be on the road with three of them against Selkirk College.

Friday’s game starts at 7pm and like all games is available on Fast Hockey.