The Ice Hawks welcomed captain Yuji Akimoto to the lineup for the first time this season with a 9-1 win over the Abbotsford Pilots in Abby Friday night.
Conner Merriman stole the show, scoring four of the nine Delta goals, including two power play goals and a short-handed goal on an unassisted breakaway.
Michael Romeo opened the scoring with a goal 2:40 into the first, and Merriman doubled the Hawks’ lead to 2-0 before the end of the first 20 minutes.
Merriman had two more goals in the second period, bookended by two goals from Danylo Bereza; each scoring a power play goal and Merriman netting his short-handed marker, making it 6-0 Delta through 40 minutes of play.
The fourth Merriman goal of the night came just over two minutes into the third period while on the power play. Abbotsford then answered with a power play goal of their own, scored by Drew Dornan.
Payton Hu added two more goals before the end of the game, one of which was also on the power play, making it a 9-1 Hawks final.
