Weekend Preview: Eagles hit the road needing points for playoff push

Eastern Washington University hits the road this weekend bound for Vancouver Island and a pair of match-ups that hold bigtime implications for the team's playoff aspirations.

The Eagles currently sit just two points back of the University of Victoria for fifth place in the league standings, but they're nine points behind the upstart Vancouver Island University Mariners for fourth spot and the league's final playoff berth.

The weekend begins on Friday against a Vikes team that Eastern took for three of a possible four points when the clubs met in Cheney just before the BCIHL's winter holiday break. Jason Greenwell's team will hope to keep that momentum rolling against the reigning champions, who dropped their first game of 2018 by a 4-2 score to Simon Fraser.

While the Vikes may be able to look down on EWU in the standings, their potential climb into a playoff position is nearly as steep. They'll need to make up seven points on VIU, who at 6-7-0-0 have shown no signs of a prolonged slump.

UVic's first priority will be to hold Eagles points leader Beau Walker off the scoreboard, as TWU did in sweeping the Eagles last weekend on the road. Those games marked the first two times all season that Walker was held without a point.

Their second priority will be to knock their own scoring slump after a first half that saw the team net just 30 goals in 13 contests. The Vikes' power play was active in their loss to the Clan, striking twice on goals from Mike Janz and Liam Shaw. The trio of Shaw, Brandon Volpe and Jack Palmer has been the team's saving grace offensively with 39 points between them in 36 combined games.

Eastern will wrap their road swing on Saturday in Nanaimo with a big test against VIU that will either make the standings gap between the teams look tantalizingly close or staggeringly out of reach.

The Islanders have actually had more success away from the Nanaimo Ice Centre, as four of their six victories have come on the road. They'll hope to reverse that trend and pick up a win in front of Brett Clark after the  22-year old took over the starter's job for the New Year.

VIU will have a new face in the lineup on Saturday as forward Cole Zimmerman makes his BCIHL debut. The Chase, BC product scored 10 goals and totaled 15 points with the University of Jamestown last season and brings KIJHL and Cyclone Taylor Cup championship experience to the Mariners' roster.

Friday's game in Victoria is set for a 7:30 PM faceoff while Saturday night's contest in Nanaimo is scheduled for an 8:00 PM puck drop. Both games can be streamed live on Hockey TV.