Tye Hemenway earned first star honours in the Hawks’ 9-4 win on Tuesday night over the Grandview Steelers, netting two goals in the game to up his goal total on the season to five. // Tav Morrison photo
Grandview had the first goal of the night, with Zach Shaughnessy in good position but just couldn’t get all of it, as a Kassius Kler shot tipped off his glove and into the top corner on the far side for a 1-0 Grandview lead.
The Hawks were on the board just over a minute later, though, as Nicholas Kolb stole the puck behind the Steelers’ net and got it out front of Jaren Ashbee, who wristed it home for his second of the season.
In the second, the Hawks exploded for six goals in the frame, taking it from a close game to a blowout. It started with Brandon Petrie finding his fellow defenceman Lachlan Freer for a backdoor goal, his second as an Ice Hawk.
Two minutes later, Ashbee had the puck at the left point, took a few strides in, then crossed a pass to Tye Hemenway on the other side of the ice for another quick backdoor play and a 3-1 Hawks lead.
Goal number four was scored by Michele Romeo – he grabbed a pass from Brandon Petrie in the neutral zone then wove him way through the Steelers defence and went post-and-in for his tenth of the year and a 4-1 score.
Continuing Delta’s scoring in the frame, Mateo Sjoberg got the puck in the neutral zone and made a big loop. He took the puck down into the Steelers’ zone and somehow found Jang with a finely-threaded pass through two Steelers defenders, giving Jang the open net to score his eleventh.
While on one of the few power plays of the game, Billy Johal passed up to Danylo Bereza. He slid a lead pass to Sjoberg, and he sniped it short side over Grandview goalie Ronin Geraghty, who had just entered the game, for his fourth as a Hawk.
The final goal of the Hawks’ offensive outburst in the middle frame came late in the period when Hawks AP Ben Walker centred for Colin Jang, who took a shot that was stopped, and Hemenway was there for the rebound, his fifth of the season and a 7-1 Hawks lead.
Grandview had the first goal of the third period, scored by Ben Ruthven, and they crept closer to the Hawks with a 7-2 score. But that didn’t last long, as less than three minutes later, Delta had scored two more goals.
Sjoberg was at it again, stealing the puck right off a defender in Grandview’s zone, then striding in and sliding a pass through the crease for Payton Hu and a yawning cage for his third of the season.
The last Delta goal of the night came when Romeo centred a pass right to the Steelers defence, who tried to clear the slot but it went right onto the stick of Nicholas Kolb, who made Grandview pay for their mistake.
The Steelers netted two more goals before the end of the game from Kler and Ben Zhang, but it was nowhere near enough, as the Hawks had padded their lead enough for a 9-4 final.
