Hawks goalie Merik Erickson was named the Player of the Game for Delta Thursday afternoon. After allowing a goal 17 seconds in, he bounced back and kept the Dynamiters off the board for more than 60 minutes before they were able to score again, in overtime.
It was a tough start to the Cyclone Taylor Cup for the Delta Ice Hawks, falling 2-1 in overtime to the Kimberley Dynamiters to open the tournament at the Revelstoke Forum.
The Hawks did come away with one point because the game went to overtime, and that is mostly thanks to goalie Merik Erickson, who stopped 42 of 44 shots in the game, many of which came while on the penalty kill.
The first goal of the game came early, with the Dynamiters’ Tristan Weill scoring 17 seconds in to give Kimberley a 1-0 lead that carried into the first intermission.
Neither team found the net in the middle frame – It wasn’t until the latter half of the third period that this game saw another goal. While Delta was on the penalty kill, Caelan Mander grabbed a loose puck in his own zone and dished up to Carson Merriman for a 2-on-1. Mander out-skated the denfenseman, took a pass from Merriman, and made a move to beat Matt Fleet.
This one went to overtime, which is when Christian Mealey walked into the high slot and scored high glove on Erickson to take the extra point for Kimberley. The Hawks will look to bounce back against the Oceanside Generals, who they will face on Friday at 1pm.
