64 young Eagles on crowded hockey roster this season, one to forget in Surrey

Published 4:00 pm Monday, March 23, 2026

It’s been a very busy junior hockey season for Brian Passmore, who navigated a roster of 64 players — an incredible number for a general manager of any team, junior or not.

The 2025-26 season was Passmore’s first with Surrey Eagles as GM and coach.

No question, it’s been a year to forget for the Eagles, who sit last in the 20-team league heading into the final weekend of games.

All season, Passmore had his hands full with trades as the team looked to improve, and some players wanted fresh starts elsewhere.

“It has been a struggle, just disappointing, the way it’s all transpired this year,” Passmore said frankly. “It’s just been a difficult season for us.”

With more than five dozen players cycling through the lineup (10 of them goaltenders), and only a couple of skaters still around since opening night, the Eagles have seven wins in 52 games in the BC Hockey League’s Coastal East division.

Surrey’s final two games of the season are Friday, March 27 at Alberni Valley, then Sunday, March 29 at South Surrey Arena vs. Prince George Spruce Kings, 4 p.m. puck drop.

Passmore is already working to build for next season with the help of assistants Cullen Revel and Brady Lynn.

“That’s now the main thing, which guys are we going to return from the group that’s currently here,” he said. “Recruiting-wise, it’s wide open. We’re looking to bring in more skill and speed. It’s a bit harder when your record is what it is, that’s no secret. But, you know, this organization has won in the past and I feel like we’ll have a lot of good futures coming in from those trades we made.”

Last summer the Victoria-based Passmore replaced Scott Gomez as coach and GM with an Eagles team in transition following a Fred Page Cup-winning season in 2023-24.

“A lot of returning guys I thought were going to be here, they ended up not coming back or, you know, asking for trades, which kind of made it a mess since the start (of the season),” Passmore explained.

“We had kids leave to go to the Quebec league or go back to the United States,” he added.

Now that CHL players are eligible to play for NCAA Division I hockey teams, the BCHL isn’t the only Canadian pathway to U.S. universities, creating trickle-down issues for the Eagles.

“Another hard thing about this league is that when you do well (as a player), you move on to the Western Hockey League or USHL,” Passmore said candidly.

A couple of players worth keeping next season are 2006-born Kole Keen, who led the Eagles in scoring after an October trade with Cowichan Valley Capitals, and Russian forward Gleb Semenko.

“We got Semenko from Sherwood Park, and he’s been one of our most productive players since the trade deadline, scoring pretty much every game for us, and he’s only a 17-year-old,” Passmore noted. “I think he’s a player that can be a real good player in this league.”

Saskatchewan’s Keen, meantime, is “a player that you want to have 20 more of — a competitor, wants to win, has a positive attitude, doesn’t really show his anger and frustrations as some other guys do,” raved Passmore.

At times it’s been tough keeping all young Eagles happy in a crowded nest where they didn’t win a lot of games.

“We want the guys who want to be here and play for the pride of the team,” Passmore said. “If they’re thinking about going somewhere else, it’s better they’re not here.

“It’s great here in Surrey,” he added. “As frustrating as it’s been, we just found ways to lose games this season. I can count on two hands the number of losses we’ve had where we feel we should have won the game. I think as a whole, we’re building into next year and we’ll be stronger.

South South Arena is a great facility in a good location with a solid fan base, he said.

“We’ve had good crowds all year, no complaints,” Passmore noted. “Our fans have been right there with us every single game. I feel that when we play at home, we’ve had lots of entertaining games, overtime games, close games. But the last 15 games on the road, we’ve kind of been a different group — just not the same level of confidence in our play. That could be from having so many younger guys right now.”