Ice Hawks On The Ropes

In Ladner at the Leisure Centre the Sockeyes twice came back from being down a goal to defeat the Delta Ice Hawks 6-5, taking a 3-1 game lead in the Tom Shaw Conference finals.

The Ice Hawks opened a 3-0 lead as Martin opened the scoring 2:18 into the game only to be followed by a goal off the stick of Walter a short 24 seconds later. This saw them break the shutout streak of 70 minutes of Kootenay Alders shutout streak.

The last time they scored on him was in game two of the series in Richmond.
Matthew Dawson extended the Ice Hawks lead to 3-0 at 9:05 and they played a solid defense in front of Alexander Ahnert who has played every minute of the playoffs for Delta this season, the Sockeyes changed goalies as William Latimer took over for Kootenay stopping the bleeding for Richmond the Ice Hawks held a 15-8 edge in shots in the opening period.

In the second the Sockeyes turned the tables on Delta scoring three straight goals to even the game at 3-3. Scoring the Sockeyes were Hughes (7:57) and Thorsteinson cutting the lead to 3-2.
At 12 minutes Hamaguchi (PP) evened the game at three 1:47 seconds later giving the Sockeyes a 12-9 edge in shots.

The Ice Hawks replaced starter Alexander Ahnert with Scott Lapp as the teams were tied entering the final period
Delta on the PP went ahead 4-3 on a goal by Merrick, but the Sockeyes Allison scored goals less than a minute apart to give them a 5-4 lead by 3:21 of the final period.

Hamaguchi got his second of the night and eventually the game winner on the PP at 9:24 making it 6-Delta Ice Hawks moved to within one as Procyshyn beat Latimer cutting the lead to 6-5 with less than nine minutes remaining.

Both teams had chances in the time remaining but both “tenders” (Scott Lapp of Delta and Richmond’s William Latimer) both came up with solid saves. The Ice Hawks had the game tying goal in the bank with 23.1 seconds left as Lapp pulled for an extra attacker with Barden was just outside the crease.

He was called for goalie interference which disallowed the goal by Delta and enabled the Sockeyes to run out the clock for a 6-5 victory to grab a 3-1 lead in the series.

Final shots were 40-35 for the Sockeyes as the tandem of Alder Kootenay and William Latimer of the Sockeyes combined for 30 saves on the night. Alexander Ahnert and Scott Lapp faced 40 shots stopping 34 of them in the loss.