Jacob Zillich kept the North Vancouver Wolf Pack off the scoreboard in his first start of the season, playing at Sungod Arena in North Delta, his hometown rink. Photo: Katie Lawrence-Balloch
In the third game of the week, the Ice Hawks got their third win of the season, defeating the North Vancouver Wolf Pack 5-0 in North Delta.
Ice Hawks starting goalie Jacob Zillich grew up playing at ND’s Sungod Arena with North Delta Minor Hockey and served up a 25-save shutout in his return to his hometown rink.
Carson Merriman continued his hot start to the season with another multi-goal performance, including the first two of the game. The first came on a breakaway as he stepped out of the penalty box, beating Zoltan Bencsik low to open the scoring with less than 3 minutes left in the first.
Then, just a minute into the second, he picked up a failed clear by North Vancouver, looped back towards the net and fired it home for a 2-0 lead.
Late in the second, Hawks AP Jordan Wales got his first PJHL goal by going nearly coast-to-coast, waiting out Bencsik and hitting the open corner on the far side for a 3-0 lead heading into the intermission.
The Hawks added on early in the third, winning a face-off in the Wolf Pack’s zone. The puck ended up with Wales, who passed down to Aiden McGregor-Bennett below the goal line. He went behind the net and sent a quick pass up to Dylan Stafford, who one-timed it into the back of the net.
A nice tic-tac-toe passing play coming from Colin Jang to Nicholas Kolb to Ryan Bal for a quick tap-in in the slot rounded out the scoring, ending in a 5-0 final for the Ice Hawks.
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DC6R7GIGRc&t=2s
