The North Peace Hockey League’s Lakeland Eagles have jumped out to a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-five opening round quarterfinal series against the Valleyview Jets. Lakeland skated to an 8-5 win at H.W. Fish Arena in McLennan in game one of the series prior to posting a 16-3 win two nights later in Valleyview. “We’re certainly pleased to be in the driver’s seat,” says Eagles co-coach Jimmy McLean. The win in game one came despite a shaky start which saw the team facing a two-goal deficit just seven minutes into the contest. The Jets picked up their first goal at the 4:33 mark after making the most of a nifty 3-on-1 situation. They would pad that lead at 2-0 just under three minutes later, courtesy of a power-play goal resulting from a double minor for high sticking to Eagles defenceman Craig VanDeligt. Lakeland responded at 14:24 of the period with a special teams’ gem of its own after Kelly Cunningham tipped a point shot off the stick of Jay Anderson. The Eagles got back on even terms just over three minutes later at the 17:37 mark when Dustin Kersey pounced on a rebound directed towards the Jets net by Travis Cunningham during another Lakeland power-play. Brenden Hutchingson also drew an assist on the scoring play. And it only got better for the Eagles which took their first lead of the game at the 19:39 mark after J. Anderson dipsy-doodled around a flat-footed Jets’ defence before firing a laser beam low to the glove side of Valleyview goaltender Justin Jarvis. K. Cunningham assisted on the goal. The Jets got that one back less than two minutes into the middle frame while enjoying a man advantage before Lakeland kicked their game into high gear with four straight goals for a commanding 7-3 lead after 40 minutes. Scoring for the Eagles was Kersey (with a pair) and J. Anderson, who added two of his own to complete the natural hat-trick. The third period saw the pesky Jets battle back with two quick goals in the first three minutes to trim the lead to 7-5. Lakeland would, however, send the Jets crashing back to earth at 7:01 when sniper Todd Holt converted on a nice pass from T. Cunningham for an 8-5 lead. Leading the way in the scoring department in game two was Jeff Filewich and Junior Anderson with three goals each while Matt Hunter and Hutchingson added a a pair each. Singles went to Steven Cunningham, T. Cunningham, J. Anderson and James Tallman. Game five, if necessary, goes Feb. 28 at H.W. Fish Arena starting at 8:30 p.m.