After finishing one point out of second place in the Mainland Division and home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the Surrey Eagles have five players moving on to college and two who played out their final year of junior hockey.
In the forward group, the loss of the BCHL’s second-leading scorer Christophe Tellier to Quinnipiac obviously hurts, but UConn commit Brandon Santa Juana is slated for one more season in the league. The Langley product was third in scoring on the Eagles with 40 points in 56 games.
In fact, Santa Juana, Gabe Schovanek, and Carter King represent one of the strongest returning trios in the league. Schovanek and King had 39 and 33 points respectively.
The blueline will be anchored by Kieran O’Hearn, who is one of only two Eagles players going into their 20-year-old seasons. Brett Bliss and his 19 points are also back in Surrey before heading to Brown University in September 2021.
Thomas Scarfone is the other overage player returning to the Eagles in 2020-21. He played 33 games this past season with a 14-11-0 record, a 2.69 goals-against-average, a .920 save percentage, and one shutout.
The depth chart is based on coaches going with a 23-man roster of 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders.
All college commitment years are collated from each player’s profile on the Eagles roster on the BCHL website.
Graduating Players
Wyatt Schlaht (Brown University)
Hudson Schandor (University of Connecticut)
Christophe Tellier (Quinnipiac University)
Cade Alami (Providence College)
Owen Nolan (U.S. Military Academy at West Point)
JJ Fecteau (aged out)
Reece Klassen (aged out)
Eligible Returnees
(* indicates an open spot – assuming the team goes with 13 forwards and eight defencemen)
Forwards
Buddy Johnson (01)
Hassan Akl (01)
Adamo Santia (01)
Sean Ramsay (01)
Carter King (01)
Kenny Riddett (01)
Gabe Schovanek (01)
Brandon Santa Juana (02)
Christian Fitzgerald (02)
*
*
*
*
Defensemen
Kieran O’Hearn (00)
Brett Bliss (01)
Jimmy Darby (01)
Jordan Hendry (02)
*
*
*
*
Goaltenders
Thomas Scarfone (00)
*