The more things change the more they seem to stay the same in the Pacific International Junior Hockey League.
Three weeks into the regular season and the Richmond Sockeyes and Delta Ice Hawks are well on their way to establishing themselves as the teams to beat despite both clubs having a number of new faces in their respective line-ups. The league's two best teams will meet on Thursday night (7: 30 p.m.) at Minoru Arena with first place on the line in the Tom Shaw Conference.
The Sockeyes (501) and the Ice Hawks (5-1-0) both produced a pair of wins last week, including dominating victories over the North Delta Devils.
Richmond used a four goal explosion early in the second period en route to an 8-1 home ice win over the Flyers. The hosts lead 3-0 after 20 minutes on goals by Daniel Lange, Daniel Tait and Dean Allison. They then broke the game wide open with tallies from Sam Chichak, Liam Lawson, Lange and Tait by the 4: 22 mark of the middle stanza.
Chichak's second of the night rounded out the Sockeyes scoring. Tait (22) and Allison (1-3) each finished with four points.
Two nights later in Port Moody, rookie goaltender Payton Lee recorded his first ever PIJHL shutout as Richmond blanked the Panthers 6-0.
Lee, a 16-year-old top prospect with the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants, turned aside 27 shots for the win. Meanwhile, the Sockeyes were peppering Panthers' goalie Angus Redmond with 56 shots.
Tait continued his impressive scoring stretch with two more goals and now sits in second place in league scoring with 13 points in five games. Only Ice Hawk veteran Anthony Brito is better as the 20year-old notched a hat trick in a 12-2 thumping of North Delta on Saturday and now has 13 goals and 20 points.
Icing... It was a busy week for Sockeyes GM Richard Petrowsky who tweaked his roster with a number of player moves. He announced sophomore forward Justin Rai has signed with Prince George of the B.C. Hockey League, while 20-year-old forward Justin Lachance has decided to retire. The club also returned Eric Margo to the Vancouver Northwest Giants of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League.
The team acquired Stephen Campbell from the North Delta Devils for future considerations. The 20-year-old was among the goal scorers against Port Moody.
Richmond also added some depth with the signing of midget age blueliner Eric Margo.
