The Richmond Sockeyes are finding out the hard way it’s going to take a complete 60-minute effort to knock off their cross-river rival.
The Delta Ice Hawks used a strong start and their superb back end play for a 3-2 home ice win Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Pacific Junior Hockey League best-of-seven semi-final series. Game three is scheduled for Tuesday (7:35 p.m.) in Ladner before the teams head to Richmond on Thursday (7 p.m.).
Coming off a 4-2 game one win on the road, the Hawks opened up a 3-1 lead in the early stages of the second period and that was good enough, even with the Sockeyes carrying a good portion of the territorial play over the final 40 minutes. They were blanked in the third period for the second straight game despite having three power play opportunities.
“It’s funny how these games have ended. Game one we were down 3-2 with power play at the end and it was deja vu,” said Richmond head coach Brett Reusch. “Unfortunately the bounces weren’t going our way. I thought we were definitely the better team at the end of it.
“The first seven minutes when we weren’t playing up to our standards and that’s what cost us. They are a good hockey team and that’s why you need to play a full 60 minutes. We have to keep things positive and remind them it’s a best of seven-of-series. If we can get that first ‘W’ then we can build off of it.”
The Hawks have opened the playoffs with six straight wins and head coach Steve Robinson knows his team can be even better.
They were on the verge of potentially putting away the Sockeyes early Sunday but gave up goals in the late stages of the first and second period to give the visitors hope.
“There was that chance to get that separation and obviously you would have liked to have seen that. We are preaching defence so much and as you know its a fine line. You see in football where you can go to the prevent defence too early and you lose your flow of the game. It’s a fine balance,” said Robinson. “We’re struggling to find that little bit the way I want it to be. The first period was a good demonstration of how we want to play.
“During five-on-five hockey we show those stretches of dominance and that’s why it’s so important to stay (even strength) against them. We still hung in there. The boys were battling and did what they needed to do.”
The Ice Hawks are also comfortable playing in tight games thanks to goaltender Jordan Naylor and the league’s best blueline — led by the pairing of Aiden Hansen-Bukata and Gabriel LeBlanc.
The 18-year-old rookies logged plenty of minutes down the stretch with their team clinging to the one goal lead.
“You can’t say enough about their ability and to make smart plays under pressure. They are well beyond their years and experience for sure,” continued Robinson.
The Sockeyes are slowly getting back to full health except for one glaring omission.
Veteran goaltender Jacob Latrace remains sidelined with a suspected concussion he picked up in the series-clinching game five win over North Vancouver. The former Ice Hawk standout has his “good days and bad days” according to Reusch.
Mitch Newsome returned to the line-up for the first time since game two of the North Van series and was mostly used on the point during the power play. That leaves Noah Wozney as the lone sidelined forward.
Icing…
Jordan Deyremnjian, Daniel Rubin and Jesse Nelson had the Delta goals Sunday. Tyler Andrews and Jordan Funk replied for Richmond. Sockeyes goalie Hardy Hoonjan stopped Deyremnjian on a late third period penalty shot.
Mark Ephstein’s second period breakaway goal stood as the winner in the series opener.
