Teddy Bear Toss Night was a huge success, as the Hawks defeated the Panthers 7-3 and collected a lot of food and teddies for local families through Deltassist’s Holiday Toy Depot and Hamper Program. // Tav Morrison photo
It was a fun one in Delta on Teddy Bear Toss Night, as the Hawks took home a 7-3 win over the Port Moody Panthers in their fifth meeting of the season.
The Delta community came through for Deltassist on Tuesday night, sending them home with tons of food and teddy bears for their Toy Depot and Holiday Hamper programs.
Port Moody opened the scoring two minutes in on a goal by Ty Balchen, but it wasn’t long before the Hawks sent the teddies flying to the ice.
Payton Hu sent Colin Jang and Carson Merriman on a 2-on-1 and Merriman potted a one-timer through the legs of Ty Angus to get the Hawks on the board, Merriman’s
Oleksandr Gutsu scored his first PJHL goal to give Delta the lead not long after that. Danylo Bereza looped around and found Jaren Ashbee on the left side. Ashbee then flipped the puck quickly to Gutsu out front for an easy goal.
The Hawks tacked on one more before the end of the period, with Hu streaking in and faking like he was going to pass across the slot, but kept the puck and fired it past Angus for his eleventh of the year and a 3-1 Delta lead.
Hu added a second goal in the second period, picking up a loose puck and firing it past new Panthers goalie Lucas Poratto, who had lost track of the puck in the scramble, making it 4-1 Hawks.
A couple minutes later, Nicholas Kolb made it 5-1, adding his sixth goal of the year on a sharp angle snipe past Poratto.
Balchen found the back of the net again for Port Moody to make it 5-2, as the teams traded goals often in the middle frame.
Past the midway mark of the period, Mateo Sjoberg nabbed the puck from the Panthers while on the penalty kill and chipped it up to Ryan Bal, who staved off his defender and netted a short-handed goal over Poratto’s shoulder.
But again, the Panthers came back with another one, with Connor Hughes finishing off a breakaway by beating Quintoro short-side to bring the Panthers back within three.
Kolb would add another goal in the third, the lone marker in the frame. He was in the right place at the right time to put away a rebound from a Tye Hemenway shot and finish up the game 7-3 Delta.
