Tambellini Off to NHL Combine

Eagles forward Adam Tambellini will have a quick turnaround after the end of the RBC Cup as he'll head to Toronto next week for the NHL's scouting combine. Tambellini was the highest ranked Canadain Junior A player on NHL Central Scouting's end of season prospect list.

Here's the release from the BCHL:

Forwards Adam Tambellini of the Surrey Eagles and David Pope of the West Kelowna Warriors will soon be headed to Toronto to be put through the paces of the NHL scouting combine.

The event will take place May 27 to June 1 and the top 79 North American skaters, top seven goalies, top 14 European skaters and one European goalie will be there for a total of 101 athletes.

Tambellini is listed at No. 42 for his group while Pope is listed at No. 67.

Top-rated skaters Seth Jones, Nathan MacKinnon, Aleksandr Barkov, Jonathan Drouin and Valeri Nichushkin are expected to attend the combine as well.

For the link to the complete list of 101 players and the story on NHL.com - CLICK HERE

The 2013 NHL Entry Draft will be held on Sunday, June 30 at New Jersey's Prudential Centre.

Eagles' Season Ends in OT

The Surrey Eagles' season came to a heart-breaking end on Saturday night with a 3-2 overtime loss at the hands of the Summerside Western Capitals in the semi-final at the 2013 RBC Cup. Chris Caissy scored the winner for the hosts at 16:57 of the first overtime period to lift Summerside into Sunday's championship game against the Brooks Bandits.

The Birds out shot the Caps in the first period and had the better of the chances, but neither team was able to find the net. Eagles forward Colton Mackie was given a game misconduct less than five minutes into the game after a check from behind, reducing the Birds to 11 forwards in the early stages.

The middle frame was a similar story. Both sides had opportunities, but both Kevin Bailie in the Summerside net and Michael Santaguida in the Surrey goal played lights-out to keep the game scoreless. The game's first goal came in the final minute of the period when Summerside took the lead on the power play. Justin Rasumussen carried the puck below the goal line and made a nice centring pass to JP Harvey in front of the net, and Harvey made no mistake, firing a quick one-timer past Santaguida.

Surrey tied the game less than five minutes into the third after Drew Best was sprung in on a breakaway, and the Plymouth, Michigan native fired a wrister into the top shelf to tie the game. The Western Capitals answered back to retake the lead when Danny Chiasson chipped a rebound across the Surrey goal line, but the Birds would even the score once again. This time, it was the captain Brett Mulcahy who deftly deflected Dan O'Keefe's point shot into the back of the net, eventually sending the game to overtime.

Both teams had their opportunities in the overtime period before Caissy's winner. Demico Hannoun had the best chance for Surrey when Best found him in the slot with a pass off the left boards, and Hannoun tipped the puck on net, forcing Bailie into a difficult save. Caissy ended the game and the Eagles' season when he made a nice move to create some space in the slot and wired a shot just inside the left post.

The Eagles out shot the Capitals 52-45 in the game. Surrey went 0-for-4 on the power play while Summerside was 1-for-7.

The game marked the end of 11 junior careers for the Eagles as Michael Stenerson, Brady Shaw, Adam Tambellini, Devon Toews, Michael Santaguida, Craig Wyszomirski, Dan O'Keefe, Trevor Cameron, Troy Paterson, Anthony Brito and Tanner Lenting will all move on, either because of their age or an NCAA scholarship.

Surrey Player of the Game: Michael Santaguida

Summerside Player of the Game: Kevin Bailie

My 3 Stars:
1. Chris Caissy - Summerside
2. Kevin Bailie - Summerside
3. Michael Santaguida - Surrey

Pre-Game Report: Eagles vs. Western Capitals

The Surrey Eagles will face the Summerside Western Capitals on Saturday in the second semi-final at the 2013 RBC Cup in Summerside, PEI. The Eagles took the round robin meeting between the two teams 5-4 in overtime. The winner of the game will face the winner of Brooks vs. Minnesota in the national championship game on Sunday.

Surrey is coming off its lone loss of the tournament as the Birds fell 5-2 to the Brooks Bandits in the final game of the round robin. The Eagles had a slow start to the game, allowing three goals in the first seven minutes of action. Michael Stenerson finished the round robin tied for the tournament lead in points with eight while Adam Tambellini was named the tournament's top forward, Devon Toews picked up top defenceman honours and Trevor Cameron was awarded an RBC Legacy Scholarship.

The Western Capitals are also coming off a loss as they were defeated by the Truro Bearcats 4-2 on Thursday. By the time the game began, the Caps knew they would be facing the Eagles in the semi-final and took the opportunity to rest a couple of players -- most notably starting goaltender Kevin Bailie who did not play in the game. Bailie was named the tournament's top goaltender on Friday after posting a 2.22 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.

Where: Credit Union Place

When: 2:00pm PT/6:00pm AT

How to listen: Eagles Broadcast

How to watch: Fast Hockey

Eagles Win Awards at RBC

On Friday evening, the RBC Cup held its Awards Gala in Summerside, PEI, and Adam Tambellini, Devon Toews and Trevor Cameron walked away with hardware. Tambellini was named the tournament's top forward, Toews picked up the top defenceman award and Cameron was one of five winners of the RBC Legacy Scholarship.

Here's the release from Hockey Canada:

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. – The 2013 RBC Cup, Canada's 43rd National Junior A Championship, held its awards banquet on Friday night at the Harbourfront Theatre. The recipients of all six individual awards were announced at the banquet.

The awards were based on the tournament's preliminary round, which ran from Saturday to Thursday. The 2013 RBC Cup award winners are:

Most Valuable Player (Roland Mercier Trophy) – Cam Maclise (Brooks Bandits)
Top Goaltender – Kevin Bailie (Summerside Western Capitals)
Top Forward – Adam Tambellini (Surrey Eagles)
Top Defenceman – Devon Toews (Surrey Eagles)
Most Sportsmanlike Player (Tubby Schmalz Trophy) – Mike Dietrich (Minnesota Wilderness)
Top Scorer – Anthony Paskaruk (Brooks Bandits)

In addition, Brooks Bandits (Alberta Junior Hockey League) forward Cam Maclise was presented with the 2013 RBC Canadian Junior Hockey League Player of the Year award. A third-year Bandit and Brooks’ captain this season, Cam Maclise finished in the top three in Alberta Junior Hockey League scoring for the second consecutive year, scoring 27 goals and adding a league-leading 56 assists, sparking an offence that scored almost 100 goals more than any other AJHL team. Maclise was rewarded for his offensive exploits with the AJHL MVP award, and was named Brooks’ most valuable player and top forward for the second year in a row.

Thomas Martin of the Vaudreuil-Dorion Mustangs (Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Québec) was on hand in Summerside to receive the RBC National Junior A Scholarship. Martin was chosen from 10 finalists – one from each of the Canadian Junior Hockey League's member leagues – to receive the $5,000 scholarship.

The RBC Cup Legacy Scholarships were also handed out at the awards banquet. Established following the 2004 RBC Royal Bank Cup in Grande Prairie, Alta., and contributed to following successful National Junior A Championships in Weyburn, Sask., Prince George, B.C., and Cornwall, Ont., these $500 scholarships are awarded to one graduating 20-year-old player from each of the five participating teams.

The RBC Cup Legacy Scholarship winners are:
Brooks Bandits – Chris Muscoby
Minnesota Wilderness – Mike Dietrich
Summerside Western Capitals – Matthew Kelly
Surrey Eagles – Trevor Cameron
Truro Bearcats – Shayne Campbell

After six days of preliminary round action, the semifinals are set for Saturday. In the early game at 2 p.m. AT, the Brooks Bandits (3-1) will take on the Minnesota Wilderness (1-3), while the Surrey Eagles (3-1) will face the host Summerside Western Capitals (2-2) in the late semifinal at 6 p.m. AT.

Birds Fall to Bandits

The Surrey Eagles fell to 3-1 in the round robin at the RBC Cup in Summerside, PEI after a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Brooks Bandits on Thursday afternoon at Credit Union Place. Dan O'Keefe and Trevor Cameron had the goals for Surrey in a losing cause.

Brooks came firing out of the gate, and the Bandits tallied three times in the opening seven minutes of the game. Brandon Bruce opened the scoring just over a minute in when he chipped a rebound past Michael Santaguida. Mark Reners made it 2-0 after a nice play by Dakota Mason to find him in the slot with a pass off the left wing, and Tyson McCallum scored in his first game of the tournament at 6:52. Surrey's best chance of the period came in the late stages when Brett Mulcahy wired a shot off the post, but the Birds couldn't find the net in the first.

The Bandits continued their barrage of goals in the second period. Anthony Petruzzelli scored to put the Alberta club ahead by four after an odd bounce in the Surrey zone left him alone in front with lots of time to beat Santaguida. Cam Maclise added to the Brooks lead when he chipped a rebound into the Surrey net at 7:43. The Birds responded with a pair of goals of their own in the latter stages of the frame. Dan O'Keefe scored his first as an Eagle when a centring pass bounced off his leg and past Brooks goalie Michael Fredrick to put Surrey on the board, and Trevor Cameron scored shorthanded, dipsy-doodling through the Bandits' defense before undressing Fredrick to make it 5-2.

Surrey tried to battle back in the third period, but the Birds couldn't beat Fredrick. The Eagles got into some penalty trouble in the late stages of the game, stunting their comeback attempt, and the Bandits clinched the first seed coming out of the round robin with the victory.

Neither side scored on the power play in the game as the Eagles went 0-for-4 while the Bandits were 0-for-7. Brooks out shot Surrey 36-24.

As a result of the loss, the Eagles will finish either second or third, depending on the results of the Thursday night game between the Summerside Western Capitals and Truro Bearcats. Either way, the Eagles will face Summerside in the semi-finals on Saturday. The opening face-off will be at 2:00pm PT/6:00pm AT.

Surrey Player of the Game: Dan O'Keefe

Brooks Player of the Game: Chris Muscoby

My 3 Stars:
1. Anthony Petruzzelli - Brooks
2. Cam Maclise - Brooks
3. Chris Muscoby - Brooks

Pre-Game Report: Eagles vs. Bandits

For the third time in less than three weeks, the Surrey Eagles will take on the AJHL champion Brooks Bandits. This time, the meeting comes as the final round robin game for both teams at the RBC Cup in Summerside, PEI. The teams played each other twice at the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup in Nanaimo with the Bandits winning 4-2 on April 27th, but the Eagles won when it counted, defeating Brooks 4-1 in the tournament final on May 4th.

Surrey enters Thursday's action as the top team in the round robin with a perfect 3-0 record. The Eagles downed the Minnesota Wilderness 5-0 on Wednesday as Michael Santaguida picked up his second shutout in three games. The Birds got contributions from all over their roster in the victory as five different players found the net and 11 players had at least a point. Michael Stenerson remains the leading scorer in the tournament with eight points in three games while Devon Toews has more points than any other blue liner with six.

Brooks is 2-1 thus far in the round robin. The Bandits beat Truro 7-1 in their opener before downing Minnesota 6-3. In their last game, they lost to the hosts from Summerside 3-1 -- a game in which the Bandits took 13 minor penalties. Offensively, the big guns have been getting it done for Brooks in the tournament as Cam Maclise, Anthony Paskaruk and Anthony Petruzzelli have combined for 18 points to this point.

Where: Credit Union Place

When: 11:00am PT/3:00pm AT

How to listen: Eagles Broadcast

How to watch: Fast Hockey

Surrey Shuts Out Minnesota

The Surrey Eagles improved to 3-0 at the RBC Cup with a 5-0 shutout victory over the SIJHL's Minnesota Wilderness. Trevor Cameron was named Surrey's player of the game after picking up a goal and an assist while Michael Santaguida made 29 saves for his second goose-egg of the tournament. Santaguida becomes the first goaltender to post two shutouts in an RBC round-robin since Peter Wishloff achieved the feat while playing for the Eagles in 1998.

Surrey out shot the Wilderness 19-8 in the opening frame, and the Birds found the net after the midway mark when Nic Pierog fired a shot past Minnesota goalie JoJo Jeanetta from the right circle. Trevor Cameron added his name to the score sheet with less than 90 seconds to go in the period after Demico Hannoun forced a turnover at the Minnesota blue line and passed to Adam Tambellini who quickly dished the puck to Cameron for a tap-in at the left post.

Drew Best made it 3-0 at 11:20 of the second with a nice shot that found the top corner on the short side from in close at the bottom of the right circle. Surrey struck again in the final minute of the period after Wilderness defenceman Benjamin Michaud took a penalty with 10 seconds left, and Michael Stenerson scored before the end of the stanza when he tipped a Devon Toews point shot past Jeanetta with only four seconds remaining.

The Birds shut it down in the third and played a very defensive 20 minutes, keeping the Minnesota forwards at bay, save for a couple of goal-mouth scrambles. Kevan Kilistoff rippled the mesh off the rush in the late stages after Cameron found him with a nice pass on a three-on-two to complete the 5-0 victory for Surrey.

Surrey's power play struck once on seven opportunities in the game while Minnesota was 0-for-6. The Eagles finished ahead on the shot clock 36-29.

As a result of the loss, the Wilderness will finish fourth in the round robin and will face the first place team on Semi-Final Saturday. Meanwhile, the Birds hold their destiny in their own hands as they can finish first with a victory in their final round robin game against Brooks on Thursday. Face-off at 11am PT/3pm AT.

Surrey Player of the Game: Trevor Cameron

Minnesota Player of the Game: Mike Dietrich

My 3 Stars:
1. Trevor Cameron - Surrey
2. Demico Hannoun - Surrey
3. Kevan Kilistoff - Surrey