The Lakeland Eagles once again have their backs up against the wall in their best-of-seven North Peace Hockey League’s Campbell Cup championship against Spirit River. Lakeland, which dropped the first two games of the series before rebounding with back-to-back victories to knot things up at 2-2, handed the momentum to the Rangers on a silver platter last Tuesday following a 6-3 loss at H.W. Fish Arena. “We just didn’t bring the same intensity level to the game as Spirit River,” says Eagles co-coach Jimmy McLean after the disappointing loss. “They wanted it more than we did. That’s the bottom line.” And it showed on the ice as Spirit River had their way with a seemingly lifeless Eagles team which surrendered three first period goals, including two power-play markers, to trail 3-0 after 20 minutes. Drawing first blood for the Rangers was Trevor Mazurek, who tipped a point shot from Donny Lloyd at the 10:42 mark with Eagles forward Steven Cunningham serving a two-minute minor for slashing. Spirit River would pad that lead at 2-0 on an even strength goal from Mike Lefley, who cashed in on his first of three goals on the evening after being left all alone in front of the Eagles net with goaltender Rod Branch down and out. It stayed that way until the 17:08 mark when Brad Kennedy fired a laser beam shot from the point during a power-play which beat a screened Branch for a 3-0 lead. Lakeland would eventually get on the scoreboard at 10:42 of the middle frame when Jerry Cunningham made the most of a short-handed opportunity by firing a low shot past screened Rangers goaltender Chad Rycroft to trim the lead at 3-1. The celebration, however, was short-lived as Spirit River capitalized not once, but twice, on consecutive power-play goals from Lefley at 12:08 and 16:36 for a 5-1 lead which took the wind out of Lakeland’s sails. And it only got worse from there as the Rangers went up by five goals with an even strength marker from Colin Lefley at 4:07 of the third period to make it 6-1. Lakeland would respond on a goal from Daniel Belcourt at 7:01 and a power-play effort off the stick of J. Cunningham at 8:48, but it was a case of too little, too late for the Eagles. Eagles goaltender Rod Branch proved to be the hero for Lakeland in Spirit River March 22 after recording a 2-0 shutout in a game which saw him turn aside all 53 Rangers shots. The only scoring in the contest came in the final period, courtesy of James Tallman who scored at the 12:42 mark and added an empty net goal with just 58 seconds remaining in the game. The 6-3 win March 25 gives the Rangers a 3-2 games edge in the series, which shifted back to Spirit River April 1 for game six. Game seven, if necessary, goes this Thursday (April 3) at H.W. Fish Arena with the puck dropping at 8:30 p.m. sharp.