It was a good night for MacGillivray and the Ice Hawks; the PJHL rookie became the league scoring leader with 46 points, thanks to a seven-point game against the Panthers.
The Delta Ice Hawks took home a big win on Tuesday night, a 9-4 victory over the Port Moody Panthers, with Dalton MacGillivray leading the way with points on seven of the nine goals.
It was a back-and-forth battle in the first couple of periods, but the Ice Hawks took over late, as the offence finally broke though past Panthers goalie Adam Goody. The Ice Hawks fired 52 shots on the Panthers’ net, while Port Moody had just 16.
The Panthers pounced first, scoring just two minutes into the game. Connor Hughes picked up a long pass from Anthony Ip and had some room in the Hawks’ zone, as defenseman Henry Smith lost an edge. Hughes was able to beat Merik Erickson short side.
Right before the media time out, the Ice Hawks evened the score. Dalton MacGillivray kept in a clearing attempt by the Panthers and sent Alec Scouras on a partial breakaway. Goody made the stop, but Scouras stayed with the puck. Under pressure, he found MacGillivray back out front, who scored his nineteenth of the year.
Late in the frame, the Panthers took advantage of a man-advantage, scoring a power play goal. The Panthers won the faceoff and Andrew Kim made his way around the Hawks net. He found Ryan Tong up top, who fired a shot from the point and in.
The Hawks would not give up though, scoring a power play goal of their own with less than 30 seconds left in the period. The Hawks had control and MacGillivray looped around, finding Scouras open on the left side. He took a shot, stopped by Goody, but Carson Merriman was right out front to tie the game 2-2.
In the second period, Port Moody again found success on the power play, with Daniel Dallapace going cross-ice to Sukhraj Narwal, who wristed it quickly and Erickson was just not able to get there in time.
To keep the pattern up, the Hawks returned fire just 50 seconds later. Delta was able to force a turnover and the puck ended up on MacGillivray’s stick. He connected with a streaking Yuji Akimoto, who beat Goody glove side.
Delta found their first lead of the game, with another goal right before the media time out. In what looked like a broken play, MacGillivray passed over to Carson Merriman, who recovered the play with a pass to Reegan House in the slot alone, who had a yawning cage to shoot at to make it 4-3.
A quick whistle cost the Panthers a tying goal, as the referee lost sight of the puck and blew it down, seconds before the Panthers netted the dribbling puck behind Erickson.
The Ice Hawks added to their lead before the end of the second – Carson Hemenway sent in a shot from the right point and Alex Lucchesi tipped it past Goody for a 5-3 Delta lead heading into the third.
In the third, the Panthers cut the Hawks’ lead in half quickly – scoring less than two minutes into the period. Dallapace sent the puck up to Narwal. He went cross-slot to Kim for Port Moody’s fourth goal of the game.
The see-saw battle ended there, though, as MacGillivray got the Hawks started on a four-goal run. Scouras called for the puck and entered the zone with MacGillivray. He passed to his line mate, who had a couple chances, but Goody was able to make the stops, but could not stop the incoming Caden Stephenson, who sent home a rebound for his second of the season, making it 6-4 Delta.
MacGillivray got his second of the game, breaking in on a 3-on-2 with Scouras and Henry Smith. Smith intercepted the puck and passed up to Scouras. Scouras dropped to MacGillivray, who ripped it past Goody, his twentieth.
The Hawks added two more late, with Scouras getting his first of the game after picking up a loose puck in the high slot and firing it past a screened Goody; and Carson Bigras won the puck in a bit of a scramble out front for his first of the game as well, with just seconds left on the clock to make it 9-4.
