For just the third time in franchise history, the Delta Ice Hawks will be competing for the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial junior "B" hockey championship.
The Ice Hawks have advanced to the Pacific International Junior Hockey League finals after eliminating the defending champion Richmond Sockeyes in six games, capped by a nail-biting 2-1 home ice victory on Sunday night.
Delta will meet the Abbotsford Pilots starting Thursday (7: 30 p.m.) at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
Making the picture even brighter is the Pilots are already guaranteed a spot in the Cyclone Taylor Cup as the host team. Abbotsford's six game series win over Aldergrove means the Ice Hawks have a berth too, regardless of what happens in the championship series.
Few would have predicted the turn of events in the Tom Shaw Conference finals considering how the Sockeyes dominated Delta in the regular season (5-1) and took a 2-1 series lead back to Minoru Arena for games four and five where they owned a sparkling 26-3 overall record.
However, it was the Ice Hawks that produced convincing 5-2 and 6-3 victories, setting the stage for game five where they relied on the outstanding 45-save performance of goaltender Glenn Ferguson to escape with the win in front of more than 500 fans.
It was less than two weeks ago the Hawks were 20 minutes away from a first round exit when they trailed the North Delta Devils 1-0 in game five. They rallied for the win, then proceeded to take the series in seven games. The momentum carried over to the conference finals where Delta dropped the opening game, then dug deep for a 3-2 win in double overtime, playing its fifth game in six nights.
"That win was a huge weight off our shoulders," said team captain Cody Smith, who notched the overtime winner that night. We just really picked it up from there. We found our game and got going.
"We have always had a good rivalry with Richmond and we really stepped it up this time. We have a few 20year-olds and it was time to get the heart going. This is an emotional time."
First period goals by Kolten Grieve and Ladner's Grange Gordon gave the Ice Hawks a two goal lead they managed to nurse through the final 50 minutes but not before plenty of anxious moments. Conner Wilson finally solved Ferguson with an early third period power play goal and the Sockeyes had several glorious chances to pull even.
"Ferguson was the difference tonight and part of the series too, " said Ice Hawks head coach Dave McLellan."We basically fell asleep in the second and third periods and sometimes you get a little lucky like we did tonight. But you also work all year to get some luck."
McLellan and his assistants have been patiently waiting for their club to be firing on all cylinders and they couldn't have picked a better time of the year to do it.
After an injury resulted in a sub-standard regular season, Cody Fidgett has been spectacular in playoffs, including six goals against the Sockeyes. Mitch Pacey has responded to increased ice time and been a major force with and without the puck. Veteran blueliners Alex Martin, Ryan Cuthbert, Mark Whiteley and Taylor Kislanko have logged huge minutes, while Ferguson has been the best goalie in the playoffs.
The consistency which has been such a huge part of the Sockeyes' dominance the past few seasons was simply lacking in these playoffs.
Coach Judd Lambert watched his team get off to a terrible start in game two, only to rebound with a dominating game three win. Just when Richmond looked to be in control, they dropped two straight at Minoru.
"We were terrible. We definitely didn't show up in game four," said Lambert who will not be returning next season in order to spend more time with his young family. "Game five we were better but they made the plays and we didn't.
"We prepared and went through the same routine we always have done. For whatever reason the intensity and emotion wasn't there.
We had in our mind all year long that our record was a bit dangerous. Definitely there was the possibility of complacency. Bottom line is we didn't make enough plays in this series to win."
