Thanks to the pandemic, it’s been a two-year wait for the Delta Ice Hawks’ biggest homestand in franchise history with a provincial junior “B” hockey championship at stake.
The Ice Hawks are hosting the 54th edition of the Cyclone Taylor Cup for the first time and looking to win the coveted trophy for just the second time in 25 years. Standing in their way are the Revelstoke Grizzlies, Peninsula Panthers and Langley Trappers, champions of the Kootenay, Vancouver Island and Pacific junior leagues respectively.
The tournament will feature three days of round-robin action with 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. doubleheaders at the Ladner Leisure Centre starting At Thursday. It concludes with the top two teams playing for gold on Sunday (4 p.m.) while the third and fourth place finishers battle for bronze at noon.
The Hawks coming off a 23-day layoff after being eliminated in game six of the PJHL semi-finals by White Rock. They would probably be in very tough if they had to face any of these teams in a best-of-seven series, especially Revelstoke (16-3) and Langley (12-2) that rolled to their playoff titles in convincing fashion. What’s working in their favour is seeing these teams just once and doing it on home ice where they went 5-1 in the post-season and have been training regularly over the last three weeks.
“It’s just like playing a game seven of a series. It’s the old adage that anything can happen in one game between bounces, injuries, goaltending and officiating,” said Delta GM and head coach Steve Robinson. “The better team doesn’t always win in a single game. You give yourself the best chance by doing all the little things, as far as the clichés of staying out of the box, being smart and playing our game. I think it’ll be competitive. I think all four teams are good.
“One of the silver linings to the fact that we’ve had extended practice since that last game is we were able to bring our gear (into the LLC) and we haven’t left. That’s something we normally don’t get the luxury of having, so it’s been really nice to kind of settle into our home base. I do think that the consistency of being here and in your surroundings is going to help.”
Robinson got a taste of this tournament and what can happen for the host team back in 2018 when Delta went to Richmond as the PJHL champions. The Ice Hawks opened with a pair of wins then rested some key regulars in a loss to the Sockeyes that set the stage for a rematch 24 hours later. Richmond won again after coming off a similar lengthy layoff.
This time, Robinson figures Revelstoke is the team to beat, having won the cup the last time it was contested in 2019 and travelling a longer playoff road that required 16 wins. The Ice Hawks will face the Grizzlies in their opening game.
“We know we are going to come in well-rested but rusty having no game rep in 23 days. I was telling the guys that that first game against Revy for me it’s like just getting through that first 10 minutes of getting your feet underneath you without having the bottom fall out early.”
Icing…
The beer garden in the upper foyer of the LLC will be operated by Barnside Brewery. Ladner’s Landing Pub will be the official “Hockey House” for post-game gatherings. Tickets for round-robin games are $20 for adults. The bronze medal game is $25 and the gold medal game $30.
