The Delta Ice Hawks have reached the midway point of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League regular season and already they look to be in no man's land.
A 5-2 win over the Mission Icebreakers on Tuesday night at the Ladner Leisure Centre lifted the Ice Hawks record to 14-5-1-1, good enough for a 10-point lead on the third place North Delta Devils in the Tom Shaw Conference. It's the same point difference the Hawks find themselves behind defending champion Richmond Sockeyes who have amazingly won 20 of 21 games to date.
The cushion is from three straight wins over Delta as the gap between the cross-river rivals appears to have widen since last year's memorable seven game playoff conference series. Ice Hawks general manager Peter Zerbinos remains confident his club will be step-for-step with the Sockeyes come playoff time in February.
"When you have as many 20-years-olds as we do, you have a tendency to be only looking ahead to the playoffs and I think that's what some of the players have been guilty of," said Zerbinos. "It's pretty obvious we are going to be in the playoffs so the level of urgency has been lacking as well."
With two games against the Sockeyes before Christmas, the Ice Hawks could do themselves a favour by finding away to take some points off the defending PIJHL champions. They have got off to miserable starts in each of the three losses and a 5-1 result 10 days ago at the Ladner Leisure Centre was the most lopsided game to date.
"We definitely haven't proven ourselves against them and that's something that has to change to get to where we want to be," added Zerbinos.
The Ice Hawks should be better on the back end with the return of Mark Whiteley after a stint in the B.C. Hockey League with the Langley Rivermen. The club also got tougher with the acquisition of 19year-old Cody Larsen from the Saanich Braves of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.
Zerbinos also added some more local flavour to the line-up by picking up South Delta Minor Hockey alumni Grange Gordon from the Grandview Steelers. The 18year-old from Ladner wasted little time in making an impact, scoring a goal in the win over Mission.
"Grange brings a strong work ethic and the ability to score goals," added Zerbinos. "For some reason, he wasn't getting much of an opportunity with Grandview but he will have a much greater role with us and is a nice addition to our third line."
Gordon will face his former team on Sunday when the Ice Hawks visit Grandview. They are also in North Vancouver on Saturday to take on the Wolf Pack.
