Hawks associated player (AP) Ben Walker scored his first two PJHL goals in the Hawks’ 5-3 win on Tuesday night over the Steelers. // Tav Morrison photo
On a night where the Hawks were short five players due to the BCHC Prospects Game in Kamloops, they still found a way to win 5-3 against the Grandview Steelers.
Delta saw contributions from Austin Kofler, Beckett Cross, and Tye Hemenway, and two goals from AP Ben Walker, who scored his first two PJHL goals in the win.
For the lone goal of the first period, Declan Warburton sent Kofler on a breakaway (with the help of a fortunate bounce), and Kermany got a piece of the shot, but it had enough on it to get through and give the Hawks a 1-0 lead six minutes in.
In the second, Walker scored his first PJHL goal on a 2-on-1. Walker carried the puck into the Steelers’ zone and decided to keep it, which turned out to be a good choice, as he was able to beat Shayan Kermany blocker side.
Grandview’s Tanner Milne brought his team within one with four minutes left in the second, but the Hawks weren’t finished scoring in the middle frame.
Beckett Cross picked up the puck on the left side of the Grandview zone and carried it along the blue line before cutting in on the right side and firing a shot into the net to restore the two-goal lead.
Walker made it 4-1 with just 13 seconds left in the period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from fellow AP Jack Ferguson “Ovechkin-style” past Kermany for his second goal of the game and his PJHL career.
The Steelers struck first in the third period, with Cameron Northard making it 4-2 nine minutes in, but the Hawks got their three-goal lead back five minutes later.
Cross won a draw in the Grandview zone, and it went out to Hemenway at the blue line. He threw a shot on net from the deep point and it nicked off a Steelers defender and ended up getting by Kermany for Hemenway’s sixth of the season.
Gabriel Adam added a Steelers power play goal late during a Grandview push, but it was too little, too late, as the Hawks came away with a 5-3 win.
