“If someone is gracious enough to give me a second chance, then I won’t need a third!”
The famous words of baseball legend Pete Rose were printed out on a sign that hung in the Richmond Sockeyes’ dressing room for the past month. On Sunday, they showed what exactly it meant to them.
The Sockeyes are Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial junior “B” hockey champions after taking care of their season-long nemesis Delta Ice Hawks 5-1 in the gold medal game, played before a near capacity crowd at Minoru Arenas.
It was back on March 11 when the Sockeyes were bounced from the Pacific Junior Hockey League playoffs by the Ice Hawks in five games. There was plenty of anger and frustration in their dressing room that night in Ladner. A team with 13 graduating players used it as fuel to come together in the weeks ahead and make sure the final chapter would have a much different ending.
“I would like to say I did a ton but honestly the guys we have in this room are so committed and we worked so hard in the time we had off before this tournament,” smiled captain Tyler Andrews who capped off a brilliant final season with two goals to nail down the tournament’s MVP award. “We didn’t want take that feeling again after that loss in Delta. We pushed as hard as we could. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy but it is amazing to see where we are now.
“The famous saying in hockey is 20-year-olds show up when the time comes and there it was.”
The gold medal tilt capped a wild weekend that saw all four teams still in contention heading into Saturday’s final round-robin games.
Richmond opened with an impressive 4-1 win over the Campbell River Storm — a score that flattered the Vancouver Island champions who were outshot 38-18. However, the hosts were handed a 6-1 loss one night later by the Kootenay League champion Kimberley Dynamiters.
Meanwhile, the PJHL champion Ice Hawks were in the driver’s seat thanks to 3-0 win over Kimberley and trimming Campbell River 3-2 in overtime. When Campbell River opened Saturday’s schedule by trouncing the Dynamiters 9-1, Delta had clinched a spot in the final with a game to spare.
The Sockeyes would join them if they could win the all-PJHL evening encounter. The Ice Hawks elected to rest three of their key players — goalie Jordan Naylor, captain Gary Dhaliwal and defenceman Aiden Hansen-Bukuta.
Richmond jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and went on to post a 5-3 victory, outshooting their rivals 40-16.
Seventeen hours they were back at it again. Delta’s roster decisions seemed to pay off in the early going when Dhaliwal set-up Daniel Rubin to open the scoring at the 5:59 mark.
However, the Ice Hawks would then encounter a Sockeyes team they hadn’t seen for the previous 10 meetings this season — one that reflected the urgency and will of so many key veterans playing their final game.
Ian Ross and Andrews beat Naylor five minutes apart to make it 2-1 after one.
After killing off an early penalty, Richmond proceeded to dominate the opening minutes of the second — getting goals from Andrews and Tyler Paterson for a 4-1 lead. It was the biggest hole the young Ice Hawks had been in all season and their strengths are not suited for high-scoring comebacks.
The remaining drama in the third was the Sockeyes having to kill off a five-minute boarding major to Brett Gelz midway through the period. Goaltender Hardy Hoonjan made a terrific cross-crease save to rob Jordan Deyremenjian, one of 31 stops to earn player-of-the-game honours.
Noah Wozney, one of a number of players who came back to the Sockeyes from the junior “A” ranks to close out his career, added an empty-netter with 2:09 remaining.
“I’m lost for words. I’m just so proud of those guys,” said head coach Brett Reusch. “They stuck to the game plan today and were focused. They deserve every bit of this celebration. Our best players were our best players.
“We slayed the dragon. With this many 20-year-olds it’s a fantastic way to go out. This was such a short tournament and, to be honest, it was almost better the way we lost (to Kimberley) instead of a 2-1 game because we came out angry on Saturday like we had something to prove.”
Icing…
Ironically, the Sockeyes were the last PJHL team to win the Cyclone Taylor Cup back in 2013.
The tournament all-star team included Andrews, Hoonjan and defenceman Jacob Keremidschieff. They were joined by Kimberley’s James Farmer and the Hawks’ Hansen-Bukuta.
Kimberley nearly reversed Saturday’s lopsided result by beating Campbell River 7-1 in the bronze medal game.
