The Ice Hawks won a thriller in the first game of the season on Sunday night, defeating the Grandview Steelers 5-4 after a 12-round shootout on a goal from Brandon Petrie.
It was a tight match throughout the entire 65 minutes played and the shootout, with neither team having more than a one-goal lead the entire game.
Assistant captain Tye Hemenway opened the season scoring for the Hawks with a goal from the right point, taking the space given by the Grandview defense and walking in to pick his spot.
Grandview would tie the game with a goal from Aiden Teixeira just two seconds left in the period to go into the first intermission knotted 1-1.
Five minutes into the second, Grandview took a 2-1 lead, with Zarek Slaferek netting one for the home team, but a pair of Delta power play goals later in the period would flip the switch.
Michele Romeo was credited with the first, as a shot from Hemenway went in past Shayan Kermany off of him to tie the game back up. Less than four minutes later, Colin Jang made a beautiful redirect on a Petrie slap-pass, tipping it up and over Kermany’s left shoulder to take the lead for Delta.
In the third, the Steelers came back with two goals, a power play marker from Cameron Northard early in the period and a full-strength goal from Kori Belanger later on, putting Grandview up 4-3 with two and a half minutes to go.
But Jang wasn’t finished scoring, jumping on a rebound in the slot from a Nicholas Kolb shot and deeking around Kermany to tie the game yet again, now 4-4, with under two minutes left in the third.
Overtime solved nothing, and it took 12 skaters from both teams taking chances in the shootout to finally decide this one. Petrie went wide left then cut into the slot and shot far-side, post and in to win the Hawks’ first game of the season.
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71RBUFXZGas
