DELTA, B.C. – The Battle of Boundary Bay was the occasion for a rare Friday home date for the Delta Ice Hawks, as they hosted the White Rock Whalers for the final home game of 2024 at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
The Ice Hawks were tenacious in the early goings, throwing plenty of pucks on net but were not able to draw first blood. Instead, freshly acquired Whalers forward Ty Balchen opened the scoring with his 28th of the season (his 4th as a Whaler). Andrew Strand would be the next skater in green to mark his place on the scoresheet, just 28 seconds later. Delta regrouped and cut the deficit to one as Declan Warburton carried the puck deep into Whalers waters, pulling everyone into his riptide as he skated behind the net before dishing the puck to a wide open Louie Sim, but White Rock pressed the dagger deeper as the towering Quinn Orr notched his seventh goal of the campaign to regain the two-goal lead.
For all the early offensive dominance by White Rock, their goalscoring would recede after the first period, with both clubs unable to make an impact in the middle frame. The Whalers were twice short-handed, with defenders Cash Dumka-Jones and Jacob McNally both penalized for slashing. Though a comparatively quiet period, it was not without its intensity as both Delta and White Rock amped up the pressure in the shots-on-goal category. Both Ice Hawks netminder Merik Erickson and his Whalers counterpart Garin Wickstrom were backed up by affiliate goaltenders (Imaree Dhaliwal and Saahil Takhar, respectively), thus the odds of either one being pulled was less likely than under other circumstances.
Down two goals to start the third period, the fruits of the Ice Hawks’ efforts were harvested at last as affiliate defenceman Cohen Smith moved the puck up ice in transition, passing to a driving Rajun Parmar. Along the boards, Ryden Mathieson was ready and caught the loose puck, waiting a split-second to wire it past Wickstrom, post-and-in to make it 3-2. The onslaught continued into the third, with Danylo Bereza working on a breakout chance. Whalers defenceman Brayden Nager pressed hard to cut off the shooting lane, but could not dive into the path from Bereza to a net-front Warburton who made no mistake. Game: tied.
A stream of penalties would round out the remaining action in the third period, with Delta’s Miller Bruckshaw sitting in the box for a second consecutive delay-of-game penalty as regulation time expired. Most of the five-minute Overtime period was spent at 4-on-3, and subsequently 4-on-4, before finally going to 3-on-3. Even with the additional space on the ice, overtime was not enough to settle the score and a shootout was required.
Whalers forward Dylan Heer was first to shoot, having scored in his team’s previous two shootout victories (on the road in Langley on December 4th, and at home versus Ridge Meadows three days later). Third time was not the charm, as Erickson turned his shot aside. Delta’s Mateo Sjoberg was next up, but Wickstrom had the answer for him. Balchen was unable to score, nor was Mathieson. Whalers alternate captain Zachary Johns locked in on his attempt, putting the puck past Erickson and placing the pressure on the next Ice Hawks shooter, Colin Jang. Jang, playing in his third game since being reacquired from the Port Moody Panthers, could not extend the shootout into additional rounds as Johns’ goal stood as the shootout winner, a 4-3 victory for White Rock.
The Delta Ice Hawks step away from the Ladner Leisure Centre until the new year, with their next league games taking place at the PJHL’s Winter Classic in Richmond. On Sunday, December 29th, it’s a 1:00 PM start time versus the Abbotsford Pilots, and on Tuesday, December 31st, the Hawks take on the Aldergrove Kodiaks at 10:00 AM. Both games are at Minoru Arenas in Richmond.
NOTE: Sunday’s game is listed as a home date for Delta, but this is just for scheduling purposes at the league event and the game is at Minoru.
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3 STARS:
• White Rock goaltender Garin Wickstrom stopped 40 of 43 shots and was flawless in the shootout, weathering the barrage and earning the win and third star honours.
• White Rock forward Andrew Strand ended the night with a goal and an assist, was the only Whaler to post a multi-point effort, and took home second star distinctions.
• Delta forward Declan Warburton spurred on Delta’s resurgence by assisting on Louie Sim’s goal and scoring a massive game-tying goal. One could only assume he would have been next up in the shootout order, but nonetheless Warburton was an impressive first star.
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