An avalanche of goals have the Delta Ice Hawks riding a seven game win streak into Abbotsford tonight (Friday).
The Pacific Junior Hockey League club has scored a whopping 26 goals in their last two games and are now averaging nearly seven per contest.
Delta (8-2-0-0) rolled to a 10-1 victory in North Vancouver on Sunday then stunned their hometown supporters two nights later in Ladner with a 16-0 romp over the Aldergrove Kodiaks. That game saw the Ice Hawks explode for eight goals in the second period then add another six in the final 20 minutes.
GM/head coach Steve Robinson welcomed back a number of his top scorers from last year’s team that lost in the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial final. Some impressive rookies have bolstered the attack even further.
Brayden Sinclair leads the league in scoring with 18 points in 10 games including nine goals. Payton Hu, another 17-year-old rookie, has 15 points. Second-year twins Carson and Conner Merriman have picked up where they left off last spring with 17 and 12 points respectively. The league’s top defenceman last season, Ladner’s Carson Hemenway, has 14 points. Captain Alec Scouras has chipped in with 13 so far.
Seventeen-year-old Colin Jang, Hemenway and Carson Merriman recorded hat tricks against Aldergrove. Blueliner Yuji Akimoto added a pair as the Hawks outshot the Kodiaks (5-7-0-1) 65-14.
The Ice Hawks have added depth to their goal crease too with the return of Marek Erickson after he was a late cut of the B.C. Hockey League’s Merritt Centennials. The 18-year-old North Delta native made 19 starts last season, including seven in the playoffs. He is off to a 4-0-0 start with a shutout. Also impressing in his return is blueliner Henry Smith, 18, with eight points in seven games.
After taking on the (3-5-0-0) Pilots tonight, Delta welcomes the Ridge Meadows Flames on Tuesday at 7:35 p.m. in a clash between two of the league’s top teams. The Flames head into this weekend with a 7-1-0-0 record.
