Efficient, skilled, disciplined: these adjectives described the Richmond Sockeyes' performance Tuesday at Aldergrove Arena.
The Sockeyes edged a stubborn group of Aldergrove Kodiaks by a 2-1 score, to complete a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven, Pacific Junior Hockey League championship series.
"Their forwards buried it (the puck) and ours didn't," Kodiaks head coach Ron Johnson said. "Their (the Sockeyes') execution on the powerplay was extraordinary. It was their saving grace."
The Harold Brittain Conference playoff champion Kodiaks, who lost the first three games of the series by 8-2, 5-0, and 4-2 scores, didn't make things easy for the Tom Shaw Conference titleholders from Richmond in the series-clinching game.
The Sockeyes led 1-0 after the first period on a goal from Danton Heinen.
Heinen's second of the night, 2: 13 into the middle frame, put Richmond ahead by a pair of goals.
Just 1: 10 after Heinen made it 2-0 for the visitors, Kodiaks defenceman Stefan Gonzales tallied an unassisted goal to bring Aldergrove to within one goal.
But after that, neither team found the net. The Sockeyes played it cool under the pressure of the Kodiaks' forechecking, smoothly moving the puck out of danger time after time during the third period.
Aldergrove outshot Richmond, directing 40 pucks on goal to 38 from the Sockeyes.
When the buzzer sounded to end the game, the Sockeyes jumped into a giant dogpile at their end of the ice while a disappointed group of Kodiaks, some leaning on their sticks and staring into the ice, waited for the celebration to end before shaking hands with their opponents.
The series was won by speed and special teams, in stark contrast from the Kodiaks' physical five-game playoff wins over the Ridge Meadows Flames and Abbotsford Pilots in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The Sockeyes swept the North Delta Devils in four games, then had to go the full seven to dispatch the Delta Ice Hawks in the Tom Shaw final.
The series had a local flavour. Sockeyes linemates Daniell Lange and Heinen are both Langley Minor Hockey alumni.
Lange assisted on Heinen's second goal of the game. Lange had 67 points during this season while Heinen scored 63 points. The two have played together since bantam and have been linemates ever since.
Heinen, Lange, and their Sockeyes teammates advance to the Cyclone Taylor Cup B.C. provincial junior B championships, hosted by the Comox Valley Glacier Kings April 11-14.
