Hockey
Simply Gave It Away
Coming off a successful win over the Wolfpack had the team beaming with confidence knowing they had what it takes to advance in the Conference finals against the Steelers.
Knowing is one thing and doing is another and this is something Darren, Rob and Ken (Coaching staff) had mentioned on more than one occasion.
As one would have expected the game started and continued with remarkable speed, skill and hard-hitting plays from both teams, but Delta controlled the play.
If you ask anyone in the hockey circles, they know that Delta plays an aggressive and at times undisciplined style of play, which can and does hurt them in the end.
The first saw the Ice Hawks give the Steelers not one, but two power plays with the first being at 3:28 that saw Deymenjian get nailed for hooking.
As if one power play isn’t enough after serving only 1:07 of the first minor, Cuthbert was tagged for cross-checking not 15 feet from the ref while play was in the Delta end of the ice.
The Steelers had several quality chances, but thanks to the heroics of Latrace he kept the game scoreless allowing Delta to kill off both minors.
Delta finally got their feet moving as Grannary took a pass from Wideski and Rubin speeding down the right side to hammer one past a shocked Cole MacInnes at 12:37 giving Delta an early 1-0 lead.
The first ended with Delta taking this lead to the dressing room, despite the fact that the clock registered the shots being 15-10 for the Steelers.
While in actuality the shots were slightly higher with several on both sides not counted, but mostly Delta not being registered.
The second saw the Ice Hawks come out with the same aggressive style of play with fast break-out plays from the zone, but unable to register one more on the board.
Again, discipline took its toll on Delta as Soares was assessed a minor for tripping at 3:22 putting the Steelers again on the PP.
Fortunate for Delta they have Latrace in net as he fended off more shots that were labelled for a goal for the Steelers.
Grandview’s Santucci ran a cross ice “pick” and was sent off for Interference giving Delta the first PP opportunity of the game, which they managed to capitalize on taking a 2-0 lead.
Try as they might, it looked as if Delta was trying to give the game to the Steelers as the Ice Hawks were hammered with two more minors.
The first assessed to Dhaliwal for tripping at 9:24 followed by one to Kite at 15:23, to which Latrace again came to the rescue.
The minor to Kite was short-lived as Cumberbirch of the Steelers was assessed a minor for tripping at 15:48, putting Delta on a short-lived PP when Kite returned to the ice.
Unable to capitalize on the PP Delta took a 2-0 lead to the dressing room after two periods.
The shot totals listed in the game summary, do not correctly relate to the shot total faced by both “tenders” after two periods of play, but ironically are listed a 10-23 for Delta.
The third again started with a quick pace with both teams getting numerous chances and neither being able to score keeping both teams off the score-sheet.
Dhaliwal was sent off for delay of game (shooting the puck out of play) a short four minutes in giving the Steelers yet another PP opportunity.
This time the Steelers utilized the PP opportunity that saw Gurney take a tape to tape pass from Volpe and Chow getting them on the scoreboard at 5:12 making it a 2-1 game.
One could call this a game changer and in reality, it was as this gave the Steelers the motivation they needed to aggressively attack the net and challenge for any and all rebounds.
Both teams played five on five for an extended period of time, but again Delta gave another PP opportunity to the Steelers.
With the game belonging to either team at this point Grannary had a chance to put one over a sprawling MacInnes at 7:53, only to be denied.
The Steelers had a chance and managed to get one across the line at 9:08 only to have it waved off by Referee Stephen Campbell as Delta’s net was off its moorings.
This time Dhaliwal skated across the ice from in front of the Steelers bench to the face-off dot on the penalty box side and throw out his knee injuring one of the Steelers.
A timely delay ensued while Grandview’s trainer attended to the injured player, which was followed by a lengthy discussion between the officials.
Discussion involved if this would be a Minor or Major plus a Game Misconduct for the knee and the end result saw Grandview on a five minute PP at the 13:43 mark.
With Dhaliwal assessed only a Minor and two minutes on the clock this gave the Steelers a man advantage to pull off a miracle and that’s exactly what they did.
It took the Steelers a short 33 seconds until they managed to get the game tying goal with Volpe being set up from Gurney and Wong at 14:16.
Naturally this set up an extraordinary finish with some questioning if Delta could climb back from the hold they dug for themselves.
Chance after chance at both ends saw exceptional goaltending, only to have the Steelers Chow take a pass from Volpe and Gurney at 18:39 taking a 3-2 lead.
Both teams had several chances but the end result saw the Steelers reach into their bag of tricks and pull off a 3-2 win.
If Delta extends to make a series out of this my harping about Discipline plays a huge role.
NOTE:
It’s interesting to note that while Dhaliwal is listed as being assessed a Major and Game Misconduct on the score sheet (now) he was assessed (only) a Minor penalty for kneeing with two minutes listed on the clock.
He served the minor and returned to the ice, which was seen by everyone as I had this discussion at the Canuck/Sharks game with (former Canuck player and now Dad) Darcy Rota.
Not sure when or why this was changed, but quite possibly after the game, but what an interesting scenario if he (Dhaliwal) had scored the game tying goal at the 19 minute mark?
Play Houdini and make the call?
The end result clearly isn’t what the Coaching staff expected as this game belonged to Delta from the start, only to have it taken away by yet again a foolish and unselfish penalty.
Prediction:
I was asked prior to the game what my prediction is for this series and I went with Delta in six as long as they play disciplined for the entire series.
So far – I’m not doing too well.
Not sure who picked the game three stars, but clearly they weren’t watching the same game as I was.
Game Stars:
1st Brendon Volpe
2nd Braeden Gurney
3rd Cole MacInnes
Thanks to Doug Abbott for the photo and for more info please call 604-591-3034