The Delta Ice Hawks have brought the Pacific Junior Hockey League championship series back to Ladner for a sixth game Tuesday night — a feat that seemed highly improbable 48 hours earlier.
The Aldergrove Kodiaks were on the verge of completing a four-game sweep after they had stormed back with four unanswered goals to take a 5-4 lead on Friday night at the Ladner Leisure Centre. Many of the Kodiak supporters had their cell phones on video mode to catch the final moments of the championship clinching win. However, there would be no celebration as Mark Trotman converted a centering pass with 13.6 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
The Hawks suddenly had life and took the momentum into the extra 10-minute session. Rookie Jordan Bogress completed the improbable comeback on a two-on-one break with a terrific toe drag move before roofing a wrist shot past goalie Dawson Rodin.
Delta had lived to see another day but faced the daunting task of having to end the Kodiaks’ 18-game home ice win streak. They also had not lost back-to-back games since late September.
In front of a packed Aldergrove Community Centre on Saturday night, the Hawks held off the celebration party again — producing a solid 3-2 win. Now they are all of sudden two wins away from the franchise’s third-ever PJHL championship.
Regardless how this series finishes, their resiliency won’t be forgotten.
“I keep telling them the same thing. ‘I love coaching you guys and want to keep coaching you so lets just go out there and have some fun.’ That’s all we can do at this stage,” said Delta head coach Darren Naylor. “We live to fight another day.”
Winning Lotto 6/49 seemed like better odds than the Hawks coming back in game four to extend the series.
They had blown a 4-1 lead and were getting outshot 16-2 in the third period when Derian White scored on the power play to give the Kodiaks their first lead of the night with 5:19 remaining.
Only the heroics of goalie Jordan Naylor had prevented the visitors from jumping ahead sooner.
It was when Naylor was on the bench for an extra attacker, the Ice Hawks finally played with urgency again as their season was ticking down. They buzzed the Kodiaks net, leading up to Trotman’s tying goal.
The overtime was one of the rare occasions in the series where both teams sat back. They had combined for just three shots in nearly six minutes of action until Bogress’ brilliance.
“When that team pushes, man it’s hard,” said Naylor of the Aldergrove comeback. “I think they might have ran out of gas in the end. But thank god we had the lead. It’s almost like you have to have it to hold off the onslaught. What a game.”
Alex Suprynowicz, Brad Crompton, Tetsuya Prior and Alex Methorst had the other goals.
In game five, the Hawks led for the third time in as many games in Aldergrove and this time they hung on for the win.
Gary Dhaliwal’s goal early in the third period proved to be the winner. Clayton Schroeder pulled the Kodiaks within one, midway through the frame, but they wouldn’t beat Naylor again.
Second period goals by Jordan Deyrmenjian and Bogress had erased a 1-0 Aldergrove lead.
Game six goes Tuesday at 7:35 p.m. in Ladner. A seventh game would go the following night in Aldergrove.
