Conner Merriman celebrates his game tying goal, scored with less than five minutes to go in the game. The Hawks took the game 4-3 in double overtime.
The Hawks are still alive!
A double-overtime win in Game 5 at the Ladner Leisure Centre kept the Tom Shaw Conference final going, with 3 points (including two goals) from Carson Merriman and the game winning goal from Dalton MacGillivray.
Merik Erickson came up big for Delta with some key saves throughout the game, especially in the overtime frames, to give his team the chance to win.
The Scouras-MacGillivray-Carson Merriman line continued their offensive push, scoring the first goal of the night. MacGillivray held the puck down low behind the net, and tapped up to Alec Scouras, who quickly passed it on to Merriman for a one-timer that beat Keegan Maddocks.
Early in the second, Jayson Beauregard picked up a clear from Maddocks and went on a 2-on-1 with Sam Dowell. Once in Delta’s zone, Beauregard passed over to Dowell, who finished off the play to even the score.
Beauregard had a goal of his own later in the frame, on the power play. Tyler Price sent the puck in low off the boards and it bounced out front, right to Beauregard, who picked the corner over Erickson’s glove to give the Whalers the lead.
The Whalers took advantage of a power play opportunity in the third period. With control of the puck in the Ice Hawks’ zone, Price went cross-ice to Chris Fortems, who turned it around to Zachary Sherwin for a one-time slapper, giving White Rock a 3-1 lead.
The Merriman brothers weren’t ready to give up though, scoring two goals less than two minutes apart to tie the game up later in the third. Carson struck first, tipping home a shot from Scouras on the power play, his second goal of the game.
Defenseman Carson Hemenway found an open Conner Merriman up ice, and he went on a breakaway, finishing the play by deking Maddocks and going high-glove for his tenth of the playoffs to make it 3-3.
This game went to double overtime, the third time in the series, and the Hawks came out on top. Carson Merriman picked up a loose puck and carried it from the Hawks’ blue line deep into the Whalers’ end before passing to MacGillivray in the slot. MacGillivray wristed it past Maddocks’ glove side to send the series to Game 6.
