Dave McLellan put a month long suspension to good use as his Delta Ice Hawks head into the home stretch of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League regular season.
McLellan returns behind the bench Friday night in Ridge Meadows after serving a 30-day suspension, plus three games, for his involvement in last month's line brawl incident against the Abbotsford Pilots.
B.C. Amateur Hockey and the league came down heavy on the veteran coach for two of his players leaving the bench to join the melee. He was allowed to still run practices but couldn't be with his players 90 minutes before or after each game.
"One of our rookies saw we were outnumbered on the ice and decided to jump the bench and teach them a lesson," is all McLellan would say about the incident. "It's given me a good opportunity to watch the team from a different viewpoint and also do some pre-scouting too."
The team McLellan has been paying the most attention to is the Richmond Sockeyes, who currently sit four points ahead of the Ice Hawks in the Tom Shaw Conference. The season series is tied at 2-2 with two games remaining between the longtime rivals, including next Tuesday in Ladner.
Win both games and the Ice Hawks will have a good chance at capturing their first regular season championship since 2006. However, McLellan is more interested in the bigger picture, and that's preparing his team for another conference playoff series with its cross-river rival.
"We will be trying to look for tendencies and see if we find line matches that make sense," he said. "We will also throw some different systems at them too and I expect the very same thing from them.
"It has the potential to be a seven game series again. It was a bit of a chess match last year and that's the way it will probably bear itself out."
The defenidng PIJHL champions did little at the recent roster deadline, adding some depth to their blueline by acquiring 19year-old Langley native Brendan Gulka from Port Moody for future considerations. He scored his first goal with Delta in last week's 6-2 win over Mission.
McLellan is hoping the recipe for more playoff success is an explosive top line that includes three of the league's top scorers - Mak Barden, Anthony Brito and Aaron Merrick and a blueline loaded with experience. Twenty-year-olds Alex Martin, Ryan Cuthbert, Ryan Procyshyn and Ryan Mana, along with David Rudin, have a whopping 147 playoff games between them. He will need secondary scoring from his youngsters too, including Tanner Gattinger, Marc Letourneau and local product Michael Olson-Eyre. The goaltending looks to be in capable hands with rookie Scott Lapp and veteran Alex Anhert.
"(General manager) Peter (Zerbinos) and I talked about it a lot," added McLellan. "What made sense to us was bringing in a player with a limited role. We are pretty happy with what we have. Our focus now is on preparation for the playoffs."
