The Delta Ice Hawks are a win away from the Pacific Junior Hockey League championship and it will take one more big road effort in the toughest building they have played in all season to pull it off.
The Ice Hawks produced a convincing 7-2 game five victory over the Ridge Meadows Flames on Monday night to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven affair. The teams head to Maple Ridge Wednesday where it has looked like a vastly different series so far.
While Delta has skated to a pair of easy wins in Ladner and were robbed of a third on a brilliant 87-save performance by Paul Tucek, it’s been a much tighter affair at Cam Neely Arena. The Hawks rallied late for a 3-2 overtime win in game three and the Flames returned the favour two days later in another OT battle.
Throw in the Hawks’ one goal regular season victories and nothing has come easy against Ridge on the road.
Flames head coach Bayne Ryshak is looking for another big home ice effort to send the series back to Ladner Thursday for a game seven.
“(Our success) is comparable to whatever they do here on home ice,”chuckled Ryshak. “Last change definitely helps. I would say we are one of the teams in this league that definitely use it as much as we can.
“You have to be prepared to win 3-2 games against Delta and not run and gun too much. I compare it to a championship fight. You’ve got to have good ‘D’ but when you have a chance to land a punch you have to land a punch. Those are the kind of games we have to win and I think we are very comfortable being in close games.”
Sunday’s game four loss was the first in seven road playoff games for the Hawks. They also failed to hold a lead for the first time in 13 games. That resulted in a players’ only meeting prior to game five and a huge bounce back performance.
Nathan Pelletier gave the hosts a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Second period goals followed from Gary Dhaliwal, Jesse Nelson and a pair from Alex Suprynowicz to make it 5-0.
Halen Cordoni managed a pair of unanswered goals for the Flames before Jonathan Rees and Pelletier closed out the scoring.
“Last night’s game really stuck with the boys, leaving a bad taste in their mouth. We expect to have close games and battles but to be up 2-0, and the kind of game we typically play, I think they were pissed off it happened,” said head coach Steve Robinson. “There was a real commitment tonight and they were locked in.”
Now the Hawks look to duplicate that performance for their fourth league championship in franchise history. The Flames bounced back from a tough game two loss with a pair of strong performances at home. There is no reason why it won’t happen again.
“The big thing for us is the carrot is there now for the guys to close out the series. I think that is going to bring out that extra level or gear that maybe has been missing out there,” added Robinson. “But (Ridge) will be ready to play. It’s going to be another tough battle and a close hard fought game. Wouldn’t surprise me if it went to OT again but I think we will be ready to play.”
