The Delta Ice Hawks generated enough offence to earn conference honours. Trying to keep pace with Aldergrove Kodiaks for the Pacific Junior Hockey League championship is proving to be an entirely different matter.
The Ice Hawks have fallen into a 3-0 series hole after a 5-2 loss in front of about 600 fans on Tuesday night. They will try to avoid a sweep when the teams return to the Ladner Leisure Centre Friday at 7:35 p.m.
Dating back to their semi-final series with Grandview, the Ice Hawks have managed just seven goals in their last five games and that simply isn’t going to get it done against the high-octane Kodiaks who arguably feature the top two lines in the league. Aldergrove is now 11-1 in the post-season and on a sizzling 27-3-0 run since Dec. 1.
Delta head coach Darren Naylor believed his team was capable of exchanging blows with the offensive juggernaut but the stage is looking too big for a very young group.
On Tuesday, he was missing top nine forwards Brad Crompton (suspension), Harris Pearce and Tyson Lin (both with flu), while impressive rookie defenceman Magnus Cheung is on a school humanitarian trip in Peru. Still, being at full strength likely wouldn’t have made much of a difference.
“They are a very good team that just keeps coming at you and we don’t seem to be able to handle their offence right now,” said Naylor. “They play the heck out of their top two lines and that’s six highly-skilled forwards you have to constantly deal with. We are also really missing Magnus right now.
“They also have a good back end too and people don't talk enough about that. It’s the best in the league with six or seven experienced guys.”
It seems ages ago now when the Ice Hawks were nursing a 2-0 lead in the second period of game two and the Kodiaks exploded for three goals in as many minutes to take control. They haven’t looked back since.
Naylor insists the gap between the two teams isn’t as big as the 3-0 series deficit suggests and that’s what disappoints him. Right now, the Ice Hawks look no different than Aldergrove’s previous round opponents, despite finishing with a 31-12-0-1 regular season record.
“I don't think we are playing as good as we can and are even in awe of them a bit,” he continued. “We seemed to admire what they do and don't have that grit factor right now. We seem scared to go to their net and Jordan (Deyrmenjian) is the only one doing that consistently.”
Game three was tied at 1-1 until midway through the second period when Chase Manderville’s blast from the point got past Jordan Naylor. The rookie netminder then whiffed on league MVP Eric Callegari’s long range shot three minutes later and it was suddenly a 3-1 game. Callegari then provided the dagger when he neatly batted home Manderville’s pass shortly after another unsuccessful Delta power play.
Jordan Bogress cut the deficit to 4-2 with 8:10 remaining during a two man advantage but any chance of a comeback ended on Quincy Leroux’s power play goal.
“We still have a lot of pride and this is not over,” added Naylor in looking ahead to Friday. “We are one of the final two teams and I know we can put up a better fight than this.”
