Two weeks ago Jordy Engelson had little in the way of playoff experience. Today, he feels like a grizzled veteran after stepping up in a big way for the Delta Ice Hawks.
The 18-year-old goaltender helped the defending Pacific Junior Hockey League champions stave off elimination three times on consecutive nights and capture their quarter-final series against the Aldergrove Kodiaks with a 5-2 game seven win on Tuesday in Ladner.
A year ago, Engelson watched Jordan Naylor start every playoff game in Delta’s run to the championship. Now it’s his time and he certainly is making the most of it. He was outstanding during the homestretch of the series, especially a 40-save game six performance that saw the Hawks prevail 3-2 in double overtime.
Engelson had to be at his best with his counterpart Chad Cromar also having a heck of a series for the upstart Kodiaks who came-ever-so close to pulling off a significant upset.
“That was definitely my biggest playoff series,” smiled Engelson. “I was pretty down on myself (after a 1-0 game four loss in overtime). I was disappointed in the result but I knew we were going to come back.
“It was definitely an experience going through the ups and downs of this series. Watching the guys last year and how they handled things after a loss really helped me and I’m a more confident goaltender because of it.”
After barely keeping their season alive one night earlier, the Hawks used the emotional win to jump out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Mark Epshtein and Kyle Uy. Second period tallies followed from Ji-Hwan Kim, Liam Visram and Jordan Deyrmenjian.
Delta tried coasting through the final 20 minutes and the Kodiaks made them pay with pair of goals from standout blueliner David Padgham.
“I felt little concerned of a letdown after climbing back into the series but I could tell before the game they were pretty dialed in,” said Hawks GM and head coach Steve Robinson. “We were fortunate to start last season in playoff mode against Grandview where this time we were late for the party. I felt the last couple of games you could see the playoff identity which is playing certain way that you got to at this time of year.”
Besides Engleson’s brilliance, the story of the series was rookies stepping up to provide some much-needed goal production with the team’s top guns silent for much of the way. None was bigger than Kim with his hat trick performance in game six.
“I told him today he was our best player on the ice from start to finish. He just looks confident right now and is making us deep. Those are the guys that won us this series,” added Robinson.
“Our big guys and offensive leaders know they dodged a bullet. They will bring it and turn it around in this next series.”
The Hawks will now play the Langley Trappers. The schedule is expected to be finalized in the next couple of days.
