Teddies and hats were flying at the Ladner Leisure Centre on Tuesday night, as the Delta Ice Hawks scored nine goals to defeat the Aldergrove Kodiaks 9-0 on Teddy Bear Toss Night.
Brice Kemp and Jordin Kojima each came away with hat tricks in the game, and Jordy Engleson kept the Kodiaks off the board, making 30 saves on the night.
“It was nice to see [Engleson] have a game where he could just relax and not have to worry about being perfect. Happy that he got an easier game for a change, and it was a great to see some goals go in. Hopefully, that carries over and helps unlock us so we score some more goals,” said head coach Steve Robinson.
It didn’t take long for the teddies to start flying, as Kemp blew by his defender and scored the first goal on Jonas Hamrin 3:10 into the game.
Mark Epshtein added to the lead later in the period, stealing the puck in the Kodiaks’ end and scoring on a sharp angle for his 16th goal of the season.
Kojima’s first goal came off a cross-crease pass from Mitch Lavoie, and Kojima just had to tap it in past Hamrin to wrap up the scoring in the first period. New Ice Hawk Marcus Pantazis also tallied his first point in blue and gold on the play.
In the second, both Kemp and Kojima added to their goal totals, with Kojima getting two goals and completing the hat trick in the frame. Luka Zilic also scored his first as an Ice Hawk bar down, sending Delta to the locker room up 7-0.
Returning Ice Hawk Cameron Luk scored his first goal with the team in the third period after he and Kojima broke out on an uncontested 2-on-0. Some tic-tac-toe passes resulted in Luk easily directing a shot into an open net.
Kemp notched his third goal on a breakaway of his own, wristing one high-blocker side past Dylan Black, Aldergrove’s second goalie.
After a couple of quiet weeks for the Ice Hawks, Tuesday’s game was the first of three on the week for Delta. Their next test is Friday night in Abbotsford, before heading out to White Rock on Saturday.
“…With this busy stretch, if we can get some positive momentum going, I think it can snowball for us,” added Robinson. “Right now, where we are in the standings, every point matters and every game is big, so hopefully the guys use this as a confidence builder and just keep moving forward with a good game in Abby on Friday.”
