The Innisfail Eagles gave quick notice Friday night at home they were not going to show much Valentine's Day love against playoff rivals Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs.
The Eagles came out hard and fast and played 60 minutes of consistent disciplined hockey en route to a 6-3 victory in front of 250 happy fans at the Innisfail Arena.
Darryl Laplante opened the scoring at 13:39 in the first period on a power play and the Birds were quickly up 1-0.
And then captain Tylor Keller took advantage of another power play opportunity and made it 2-0 at 6:12. The Eagles, who outshot the Chiefs 12-5 in the first period, finished the frame showing they clearly wanted to make a statement in the first game of the 2014 Chinook Hockey League playoffs.
Joe Vandermeer quickly made it 3-0 at 17:38 of the second frame and it appeared it was going to be a long night for the Chiefs and their goaltender Jim Watt.
But Fort Saskatchewan fought back. Adam Scott put the Chiefs on the board at 13:06 and Chad Klassen added another for the visitors at 8:37. When the second frame ended it was suddenly a close 3-2 game with the two teams each having 13 shots on goal in the period.
However, the Eagles were not to be denied. Chad Ziegler put the Birds up 4-2 at 13:39 of the final period and Shawn Bates notched another four and a half minutes later and it was 5-2.
The Chiefs' Brant Middleton added one more at 4:55 but the Eagles hung on, with Keller adding an empty net marker with 28 seconds left, his second goal of the game to make the final score 6-3.
Joe Vandermeer was named home star of the game for the Eagles while Adam Scott got the away star honour for the Chiefs.
Innisfail ended the contest outshooting the Chiefs 32-26.
Game two of the series is Sunday night (Feb. 16) in Fort Saskatchewan.
Cristopher Neurauter
