The Langley Trappers capped a dominant season in style and spoiled a hometown party for the Delta Ice Hawks in the process.
Benjamin Weys’ goal midway through the third period snapped a 2-2 tie and sent the Trappers on their way to a 4-2 victory over the host Ice Hawks in Sunday’s gold medal game at the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial junior “B” hockey championship played at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
The triumph came on the heels of Langley winning the Pacific Junior Hockey League regular season and playoff titles, all initial feats for the franchise.
The Ice Hawks were trying to win their first-ever championship of any kind on home ice in their 25-year history and their first Cyclone Taylor Cup since 2006. They erased a 1-0 deficit on a pair of second period, power play tallies from twins Conner and Carson Merriman. However, Delta could not generate an even strength goal and saw its cup hopes end on Jamie Hylands’ empty-netter with 1:42 remaining.
“We just weren’t able to generate any five-on-five offence,” said Hawks GM and head coach Steve Robinson, outside a silent Ice Hawks’ dressing room. “They're a good defensive team and I wouldn’t expect to light them up or anything, but I thought we would be able generate one or two (goals) even strength to compliment that power play.
“(Trappers goalie Taje Gill) is not going to give you anything easy. I just felt we didn’t generate enough shots or enough traffic. You have to find a way, greasy or not, to get some even strength offence if you expect to win.”
The Ice Hawks entered the tournament coming off a 23-day layoff after losing in the PJHL semi-finals to White Rock in six games. They showed no signs of rust by producing round-robin wins over Revelstoke (2-0) and Peninsula (8-7) to secure a spot in the final with a game to spare. The Trappers did the same, beating Peninusla (6-2) and Revelstoke (3-1), then rested several key players in Saturday’s meaningless round-robin game, won by Delta 5-2.
“I felt like we had a disappointing end to the regular season, had a disappointing end to our playoffs and now a disappointing end to the Cyclone,” added Robinson. “We had to put our best game on the ice at the most important time and we didn’t do that tonight.
“You have tip your hat to Langley. They are a quality team that doesn’t beat themselves. At the end of the day they did enough things to generate the offence they needed and we just couldn’t find a way to breakthrough.”
The bronze medal game, played earlier on Sunday, saw Revelstoke beat Peninsula 3-2.
Fans step up to support Ukraine
Fans' generosity on the final day of the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial championships raised thousands in aid to Ukraine.
A total of $2,077 was raised from the 50/50 draw proceeds in the bronze and gold medal games. Another $850 was generated from straight donations and all was matched by sponsor Lithium Americas Corp. bringing the total to $6,000. The money will go directly to the Maple Hope Foundation, a group of Ukrainian-Canadians dedicated to providing aid to Ukraine. A number of members were in attendance on Sunday at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
