The Surrey Eagles and Langley Chiefs gave their respective fans something to cheer about on the weekend, with each team defeating the other on home ice to open the BC Hockey League season.

On Friday, the Eagles edged the Chiefs 3-2 in front of more than 1,000 fans at South Surrey Arena. The Birds stumbled in the rematch the following day, however, losing 6-3 in the Chiefs’ first-ever game at the new Langley Events Centre.

“We looked good at times, but at times we also looked like a team that had a bunch of new players,” said Eagles head coach Shane Kuss.

“But anytime you can get a split with Langley on back-to-back nights, it’s pretty good. We seem to get (splits) with them a lot, and they’re a good team to measure ourselves against.”

Forward Grant Toulmin scored Surrey’s first goal of the new season Friday – six minutes into the first period – and power-play markers from Andrew Wallace and Kyle Hunchberger staked the home side to a three-goal lead in the middle frame.

The Chiefs bounced back with a power-play marker of their own – off the stick of sniper Colten Beck – with just over a minute to go in the second period, but the Eagles were able to hold on to the win, despite giving up a third-period goal to Tim Daly.

Blue-liner Doug Marshall had a pair of assists for the Eagles.

Vinny Lessard, last year’s backup netminder, got the start between the pipes for the Eagles, stopping 35 of 37 shots.

The second game didn’t go as smoothly for Surrey.

Veteran forward Chris Santiago – a Langley native – opened the scoring for the Eagles, after Langley goalie Andrew Walsh misplayed the puck in the crease, but the Chiefs replied with three unanswered goals to quickly take the lead. The home side added a short-handed marker in the second, and a pair of even-strength tallies in the third.

Wallace and Neil Blunden also scored for the Eagles, and Toulmin added two helpers.

Kuss said the weekend was a good way for his many rookies to get their feet wet at this level.

“It was a nervous weekend for a lot of guys who aren’t used to playing in front of crowds like this,” the third-year coach said.

“We weren’t skating (Saturday) and we took too many penalties, which is what killed us.”

Despite the early-season jitters, where the Eagles did look to be in midseason form was with the man advantage.

The Peninsula squad was a combined five-for-15 on the power-play, and Kuss attributed much of that early success to the play of new defenceman Jesse Pauls.

“Our power-play was pretty good and we know we have the talent up front to keep at it, and you could really see the offensive prowess of a guy like Jesse this weekend,” Kuss said.

“Once he gets more comfortable he’s going to put up some good numbers for us.”

Kuss said that rookie forwards Erik Cooper and Jamus Lane were also impressive in their first two BCHL games.

“They were great for us. We had them out there a lot on the penalty kill against some pretty good players, like Beck, and they played very well,” he said.

Goaltender Paul Barclay, an off-season acquisition from Trail, got the start in the second game, and though he allowed six goals, two were on the power-play.

With a string of three-games-in-three-nights weekends on the horizon – and mostly on the road, no less – Kuss said both goalies would see plenty of early-season ice time.

The Eagles host the Burnaby Express Friday, before a Saturday tilt back at the Langley Events Centre against the Chiefs. On Sunday, they return home to play the visiting Powell River Kings.