Ice Hawks assistant captain Carson Merriman became the all-time Delta scoring leader with 182 points in his four seasons with the Ice Hawks, adding that title to his all-time assists title earned earlier this season. // Tav Morrison photo
In a night where the Ice Hawks lost 6-5 in overtime, the loss was overshadowed by Carson Merriman becoming the all-time Ice Hawks scoring leader with 182 points, passing former Delta captain Jordan Deyrmenjian for the title.
Merriman also became the all-time assists leader earlier this season and now holds both those titles with one game left in the 2023-24 season.
The Hawks got two goals a minute and a half apart to open the scoring, starting with a tap-in out front from Michele Romeo on the power play. Merriman had the second assist on the play, tying him with Deyrmenjian for the all-time Ice Hawks points lead with 181.
The second goal was a result of a great passing play, starting with Dawson Toledo carrying the puck down the right side, then passing in for Romeo, who then found Declan Warburton on the other side of the net for an easy one-timer to make it 2-0.
In the second half of the period, Ryden Mathieson picked up the puck after a scramble in the neutral zone and went out on a breakaway. He was originally stopped by Keegan Maddocks, but the puck sat on the goal line and Mathieson was able to reach around and nudge it in for a 3-0 Hawks lead and his seventeenth of the season.
White Rock was able to get on the board in the second, pressuring Shaughnessy while he had the puck behind the net and were able to steal it for a goal by Justin Osborne. They came within one when Jonah Ussher tipped a shot from the point past Shaughnessy to make it 3-2.
But with less than a minute left in the middle frame, Carson Merriman made Ice Hawks history, scoring point 182 of his Hawks career, with a goal assisted by his brother Conner, to become the all-time team scoring leader in points and making it 4-2 after 40 minutes.
The Whalers opened the third period with two quick goals from Derek Leroux and Zachary Johns to tie the game up 4-4, but that didn’t last long, as White Rock coughed up the puck in their own zone to Yuji Akimoto, who walked in and fired his ninth past Maddocks to retake the lead for the home team, 5-4.
But the back-and-forth scoring continued, with Cohen Massey finding the back of the net past a screened Zach Shaughnessy a few minutes later, tying the game up 5-5 and eventually sending it to overtime.
The Whalers took it in the end, with Max Lyons stealing the puck on an attempted clear and making a move past Shaughnessy to take the extra point and win 6-5.
