Mario Cavaliere put in a performance of a lifetime against the Prince George Spruce Kings.
The 20-year-old goaltender for the Surrey Eagles made 46 saves to give the Surrey Eagles a 3-2 victory over the on Saturday from the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
“We had a lot of chances that we could have buried on but it wasn’t bouncing our way tonight, that’s all that really happened,” says Dustin Manz, Spruce Kings forward.
The Eagles tied up the Mainland Division Final at 1-1, forcing a game five back in Prince George Thursday at 7 PM from the RMCA.
Aaron White and Desi Burgart put Surrey up 2-0 at the end of 40 minutes solving Spruce Kings netminder Evan DeBrouwer.
Prince George continued to come in waves against the Eagles and didn’t break through until 7:41 of the third period when Ethan de Jong ripped one top shelf over Cavaliere to cut the deficit to 2-1.
John Wesley provided the backbreaker for the Eagles beating DeBrouwer for a 3-1 lead.
“It’s a tough goal to give up, especially after getting back within one but we have to learn how to battle back in those situations and not allow a goal like that to go in and play better defensively,” added Manz.
Ben Brar scored with one second left to make it a one goal game again but it was too little too late.
The Spruce Kings have outshot the Eagles 99-34 in the first two outings including a 41-19 showing on Saturday.
Games 3 and 4 will now be played in Surrey Monday and Tuesday where the Spruce Kings failed to win in the regular season.
Tickets for game five go on sale Monday at noon.
Ron Gallo will have the play-by-play from the South Surrey Arena for both road games on 93.1 CFIS FM.
