The Delta Ice Hawks were built for regular season success. The playoffs proved to be a different matter.
The defending Pacific Junior Hockey League champions were bounced out in five games by the Langley Trappers after a 5-4 loss on Sunday night. The Hawks dropped all three contests at the Ladner Leisure Centre and saw 3-0 leads evaporate in the final two games.
After posting a 32-7-2-3 league record, the post-season was a mighty struggle. Delta came back from a 3-1 series deficit to take out No. 7 seed Aldergrove in the opening round but there would be no rally this time.
The Trappers feasted on the Hawks’ undisciplined play, scoring 11 power play goals in the series, including six in the final two games.
It was more penalty trouble that got the hosts into trouble Sunday. An impressive opening period was wiped out on a pair of Langley power play goals by the 2:47 mark of the second. The parade to the penalty box continued the rest of the night until the final minutes of the third period - and as it turns out - the season with four Ice Hawk players handed misconducts.
Critical errors also led to Delta’s undoing.
A potential 4-3 lead after two periods was wiped out on a giveaway and goal by Trappers’ sniper Casey Whintors with just 20 second left in the frame. That set the stage for Carter Graham’s power play game winner in the third.
“Maybe with time and reflection I will see something differently, but you just have to say for whatever reason the team chemistry and composition just wasn’t united, clicked or galvanized enough that we could go through those ebbs and flows that you knew were coming,” said GM and head coach Steve Robinson. “It’s something you take pride in as a coach trying to find the right chemistry and cohesion. From that point of view I feel I failed in my construction of this team.
“(With a 3-0 lead) all you have to do is stay five-on-five, play mediocre and you win. You don’t even have to play good but we can’t do that because we’re too cool. We think the refs are giving us a hard time and like to have these in-game pity parties.
“At the end of the day, there were just too many self-inflicted wounds to be successful.”
The Trappers roared back from a 2-0 series deficit to defeat Abbotsford in the opening round, then won four straight after dropping the opener to Delta. Now the league’s youngest team is off to the PJHL championship series against North Vancouver.
“You have to give Langley credit. They had the right game plan dialed up. Play aggressive. Play hard and play hungry. They forced us to be the ones to retaliate and lose our composure. They did a better job of sticking to their execution than we did,” added Robinson. “They were hungrier and more deserving.”
