The Richmond Sockeyes will turn their attention to the rare opportunity of getting a second chance in the post-season.
After being bounced from the Pacific Junior Hockey League playoffs in five games by the Delta Ice Hawks, the Sockeyes have about four weeks to prepare to host the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial junior “B” championships — April 12-15. The four-team tournament will feature the winners of the Kootenay International, Vancouver Island and PJHL leagues, along with the Sockeyes.
Each team will play three round-robin games in as many days, followed by the gold and bronze medal games to conclude the tournament.
Anyone who took in even one game of the “Tunnel Series” would have a hard time believing they were watching the PJHL’s two highest scoring teams in the regular season that averaged over five goals per contest.
The Sockeyes limited the Ice Hawks to just 12 goals in the five games but managed only seven themselves.
In the end, Delta took control of the series by winning twice at Minoru Arenas, including a 2-0 triumph in game four last Thursday which featured a superb 32-save performance by Jordan Naylor.
The Ice Hawks then closed out the series with a 2-1 home ice win on Sunday night. Goals from Richmond natives Gary Dhaliwal and Daniel Rubin gave the hosts a 2-0 lead after one. Jordan Funk cut the deficit in half when he one-timed a centering pass from Arjun Badh midway through the second. However, it would be the only goal Richmond would produce over the final seven periods of the series.
“Last game we had our chances and could not capitalize. Naylor is a good goalie. You have to get traffic in front of him because if he sees it there is a good chance he will stop it,” said Sockeyes coach Brett Reusch who also got excellent goaltending from Hardy Hoonjan, who made 33 saves on Sunday. “At the end of the day I just think some of our players played hard but we had too many passengers. We had to play 60 minutes and that’s what we kept preaching. Tonight, we weren’t prepared in the first period, got behind two goals and it’s an uphill battle.
“This is not how we wanted it to end but at the end of the day we are lucky that we get to recuperate. We will put in a lot of work over the next month and will be ready (for provincials).”
Ice Hawks head coach Steve Robinson thought his team would eventually “breakout” offensively in the series but it never materialized. Instead they leaned on Naylor and their strong defensive play to shut down an opponent he knew all too well, having coached Richmond until early December.
“That is an unbelievable team down there that can score at a remarkable clip. (Our guys) just didn’t want to give them an inch. You could feel it on the bench,” said Robinson. “What we have been saying to the guys is at the end of the day is we are not going to sacrifice much on offence by being really defensive.
“Although we sacrificed more than I expected. (We have a bunch of guys) who are not scoring right now. Sometimes the offence can be fickle but if we can keep every team to two goals or less then we are going to win.”
