Don’t call it a rebuild.

No, despite a dressing room full of new faces – 12 rookies currently dot the roster – Surrey Eagles head coach Shane Kuss insists the 2009/10 campaign will be a competitive one for his BC Hockey League club.

“There’s a lot of new faces – we lost a lot from last season, including some guys we weren’t necessarily expecting to lose,” the third-year coach said.

“But we’re excited about the guys we’ve brought in, and we don’t plan on rebuilding. We want to win. We want to win every game – that’s our goal.”

The Eagles will be looking to improve on last year’s solid campaign in which they finished 28-25-1-6 in the regular season, and were bounced in the second round of playoffs by the Powell River Kings.

The team has lost a fair bit of firepower from last year’s squad, however.

In addition to graduating 20-year-olds Adam Hartley – last year’s leading point-getter – Brennan Strang and captain Ilan Cumberbirch, the BCHL club also lost, somewhat unexpectedly, a trio of underclassmen in Spencer Bennett, Nolan Toigo and Mike Henderson.

Bennett, who was a fifth-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames this summer after potting 20 goals last year with Surrey, bolted to the Portland Winter of the Western Hockey League, while Indiana-born sniper Mike Henderson, who led the Eagles with 30 goals last year, opted to return to the USHL after one season in South Surrey.

Toigo, the team’s top offensive blue-liner last year, returned to the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, where he began his junior career.

“There’s definitely some offence gone – those were our three top guys coming back,” Kuss said.

Losing three big offensive weapons meant it was a busy off-season for Kuss and his staff, but they managed to retool both the forward ranks and the blue line with a handful of experienced players from various backgrounds, rather than fill the team solely with young prospects.

“We’ve got quite a few 1990-born players who are new. They’re a little bit older, so they do bring some experience with them,” the coach said.

Up front, new faces include Morgan Bonner, Clayton Chessa, six-foot-three, 200-pound Kyle Hunchberger and reigning Pacific International Junior B League scoring champion Brad McGowan, who spent last year with the Richmond Sockeyes. Another big body, six-foot-four Josh Primeau, was brought in from Calgary in the off-season.

On defence, Kuss is excited about 18-year-old Neil Blunden and 20-year-old Paul Levarsky, a veteran of both the BCHL and WHL who spent last season playing overseas.

The newcomers will join a nucleus of veterans led by new captain Derek Henderson, who won’t be on the Birds’ blue-line in time for the season opener Sept. 11 – he’s recovering from an injury and isn’t expected back until October.

Andrew Wallace, Chris Santiago, Tyler Morley and Grant Toulmin – who had 15 points in 18 games after arriving from the WHL last season – are also back to lead the offence.

“Those guys are really going to have to lead the charge up front,” Kuss said. “And we have a lot of high hopes for Tyler Morley. He did so much for us last year on the penalty kill, and we’re excited to see what he can do.”

Between the pipes, the Eagles will rely on 19-year-old Vinny Lessard – who, last year, backed up veteran Tommy Tartaglione – and newcomer Paul Barclay, 20, who was acquired from the Trail Smoke Eaters in June, in exchange for forward Darnell Dyck.

Kuss said there was no clear No. 1 netminder heading into the season, and both stoppers would be given ample opportunity to earn the starting job in the early stages of the season.

“We’re confident in both our goalies, and we’ll give them the chance to go at it here early,” Kuss said.

The Eagles won their first two pre-season contests, against the Langley Chiefs and Burnaby Express, before dropping their final exhibition tilt Wednesday night against the Chiefs.

The Birds kick off the regular season Friday, Sept. 11, at home against the Chiefs, before heading to Langley the following day for a return engagement.