Caelan Mander had a great night for the Hawks on Tuesday – scoring a breakaway, short-handed goal and assisting on two others in the Haws’ 6-3 win.
In the last home game of 2022, the Ice Hawks offence led them to a 6-3 win over the Mission City Outlaws.
The Hawks did not repeat the same mistake two weeks in a row, this time taking an early 2-0 lead just seven minutes into the first period.
Alec Scouras kept a loose puck at the blue line in the Mission City zone and cut in towards the slot and fired a shot over the shoulder of Brian Dale for the first goal of the game, his fifteenth of the year.
Less than a minute later, the Hawks were on the penalty kill and Luke Mongrain pressured an Outlaws defenseman at the line, forcing a turnover. He tapped the puck up and Caelan Mander easily outskated everyone else for possession. He flipped a backhand shot through the legs of Dale to make it 2-0.
Mission City got one back, as Brayden Candy took the puck up from his team’s end into Delta’s and used the defender as a screen to fool Zach Shaughnessy and pot one over his shoulder.
One of Delta’s associated players scored his first PJHL goal to take back that two-goal lead just a couple minutes later. Danylo Bereza sent an outlet pass up to Colin Jang who was joined by Mykhaylo Sheludchenko on the rush. The two played pass and eventually Sheludchenko netted it.
The Hawks were quick to add to that lead in the second period. They had control of the puck towards the end of a power play that carried over from the first, cycling from Ryan Bal to Caelan Mander, who took a low shot from the point, and Conner Merriman was there to pick up the rebound for his twenty-first marker of the season.
A power play for the Outlaws led to a goal to get them back within two. Kade Padgham took advantage of some open space, striding in from the point and shooting it past a screened Shaughnessy.
Shaughnessy stepped up late in the second, as Mission City was awarded a penalty shot after Mander was called for a penalty breaking up a 3-on-0 for the Outlaws. Candy was called to take the shot and Shaughnessy stuck right with him, not falling for the dekes, keeping his team up 4-2.
Sheludchenko struck again, this time in the third period. Bereza again set up the play, sending the puck up ice to Austin Kofler, who chipped it up to Sheludchenko. His initial shot was stopped by Dale, but he finished off the play on the rebound.
Carson Hemenway added one more for Delta, bringing the puck up nearly end-to-end with some speed, dishing to Scouras. He sent it back to Hemenway for a quick tip-in to make it 6-2.
The Outlaws would add one more before the end of the game, but it would not matter, as the Ice Hawks had locked up the win, taking home a 6-3 victory.
