Kyle Robinson scored the Hawks’ first goal of the night in the first period of Tuesday’s game against the Flames.
It was a roller coaster of a game for the Ice Hawks on Tuesday night, as they fell to the Ridge Meadows Flames 7-4 in their second and final matchup of the season.
The Flames got off to a hot start, scoring two in the early half of the first period. Derek Leroux came out of the penalty box and checked Hawks defenseman Henry Smith. Leroux got the puck and sent Ryan Denney and Nicholas Amsler on a 2-on-1. Amsler passed cross-slot to Denney, who sent the puck past Braedy Euerby.
Ridge continued to pressure; Denney had the puck behind the Hawks’ net and went high point to Matthew Tyszka. Tyszka took a shot, Euerby made the save, but Amsler picked up the rebound for a 2-0 Flames lead.
Later in the frame, Delta cut the Ridge lead in half. Henry Smith carried the puck into the Flames’ end and passed to Kyle Robinson, who quickly found Alex Lucchesi. Lucchesi took a shot, saved by Elliott Marshall, but Smith was out front to redirect the rebound back to Robinson who had an easy tap-in.
Delta tied the game in second period, with Dalton MacGillivray, Carson Merriman, and Alec Scouras breaking out of their own zone. MacGillivray carried to neutral ice, then passed to Merriman on the right wing. Merriman took the lead into the Flames’ zone and found Scouras in the slot, who sent the puck home.
The Flames regained the lead just after the midway point of the middle frame – Jack Steffens stole the puck at the top of the Flames’ zone while killing off a double-minor and passed up to Craig Schouten. Schouten scored far side on Euerby to make it 3-2 Flames.
With 18 seconds left in the second, the Flames doubled their lead. Making a quick break into Delta’s end, Amsler tried to sneak around Euerby and was unsuccessful, but Denney was right there for the rebound in a scramble play to the left side.
In the third, the Hawks kept the pressure up, having outshot the Flames 30-17 through two periods, and finally broke through. Dalton MacGillivray scored two within 33 seconds of each other to tie the game up.
The Hawks won the faceoff in their end and after a tangle in the neutral zone, Smith came away with the puck and broke in. He deked around a defender and passed to a streaking MacGillivray, who made a fancy move of his own and beat Marshall to make it 4-3 Ridge.
Thirty seconds later, the Flames tried to clear the zone but Smith kept the puck in, which made it down to Scouras near the right corner. He threw it out front again to MacGillivray, whose shot tipped off a defender and past Marshall.
The Flames were able to take the lead back though on Ryan Denney’s hat trick goal from the far side of the right circle, slipping a shot over Euerby’s shoulder.
Jordan Kujala tacked on an insurance marker, after the Flames threw a few shots in a row on Euerby from close range, and his made it into the net.
Denney added his fourth goal of the game, rolling in an empty-netter with just seconds to go, making it a 7-4 Flames final.
