It’s 11 straight wins and counting for the high flying Richmond Sockeyes.
Ontario import Mac Colasimone scored twice and the power play connected on five of six opportunities as the Sockeyes rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Delta Ice Hawks on Tuesday night in Ladner.
The result moved Richmond (22-4-2-3) into sole possession of first place in the PIJHL’s Tom Shaw Conference and the defending champions still enjoy three games in hand on the North Vancouver Wolf Pack.
The Sockeyes took advantage of a struggling Ice Hawks team that ran into second period penalty trouble en route to dropping their fifth consecutive game.
“I thought we played really well with a lot of jump tonight,” said Sockeyes head coach Judd Lambert. “Even though we managed just one five-on-five goal, we created a ton of scoring chances.”
Richmond was coming off a spirited 2-1 home ice win over the Aldergrove Kodiaks in a mid-season showdown of the league’s top two teams.
Trevor Lima opened the scoring midway through the opening period with a power play tally and Richmond took the lead into the third when Kodi Schwarz answered for the Kodiaks.
Liam Lawson converted some good work by Jeeven Sidhu and Ayden McDonald for the go ahead goal with six minutes remaining and the hosts relied on the superb 34-save performance of veteran stopper Kootenay Alder the rest of the way.
The key to the Sockeyes' success this season is a balanced attack with nine players having recorded 17 points or more. Four of their top five scorers are rookies, led by 16-year-old John Wesley.
Richmond is back in action Thursday night when the North Delta Devils visit Minoru Arena at 7 p.m. The locals also travel to Ridge Meadows Friday to complete a busy three games in four nights stretch.
