In the first of two home openers in four days, the Delta Ice Hawks scored five unanswered goals to take a 5-2 win over the Langley Trappers to open their 2024-25 PJHL season.
Rookie Lucas Jakubec had four points in his PJHL debut, with a goal and three assists, and vets Ryden Mathieson, Mateo Sjoberg, and Declan Warburton also found the back of the net to help the Hawks to the first win of the year. Zach Shaughnessy made saved 27 of 29 in the game, giving Delta the chance to take over on offence.
The Trappers found the back of the net first late in the opening period, with Julian Mills scoring for Langley, but that lead would last for less than three minutes. Declan Warburton took the puck from centre and made a move around his defender to gain some space and beat goalie Hayden Lovell to tie the game before the end of the frame.
It was all Ice Hawks in the second period, with three goals that sealed the game for the Hawks. Mathieson scored the first of the three, ripping a wrister past Lovell from the right wing to give Delta a 2-1 lead. Sjoberg, who assisted on Mathieson’s goal, netted a tap-in for a 3-1 lead and the eventual game winner. And again late in the period, Warburton struck again, finishing off a pass from Jakubec, who stole the puck on the forecheck and found him open out front. Jakubec assisted on all three goals in the period.
Then, early in the third, Jakubec was the one scoring, one-timing a backhand pass from Sjoberg to give the Hawks a commanding 5-1 lead.
Langley added a power play goal from Samuel Brown before the end of the game, but it was too little, too late, with the Hawks taking home a 5-2 win.
Highlights: https://youtu.be/NuQ34ECTcnI
