Devils settle into third
Two down, two to go.
With nothing to play for until the Pacific International Junior Hockey League playoffs, the North Delta Devils won a pair of games last week, edging the Delta Ice Hawks 6-5 Saturday night at the Sungod Arena, then rally for a 5-4 win over the Grandview Steelers Sunday in Burnaby.
Assured of a third place finish in the Tom Shaw Conference, the Devils are just playing out the regular season schedule until postseason play begins.
The Devils couldn’t hang on to a four-goal lead against the Ice Hawks, but were able to score two unanswered goals in the third period for the win.
Stefan Burzan, Nicholas Lee and Joshua Smith tallied in the first period for North Delta, and a goal from Sam Vikish early in the second put the visitors in front 4-1 after less than 23 minutes of play.
But the Ice Hawks rallied with four goals before the second intermission, three coming in a five-minute span for a 5-4 Delta lead.
Despite getting outshot 12-6 over the final 20 minutes, North Delta got the win after Tyler Hobbs and Adam Nishi scored in the first six minutes of the third period.
Harry Fredeman was in the North Delta goal, stopping 27 of 32 shots for his 20th win over the season.
Sunday in Burnaby, it was the Devils coming from behind, as they twice erased two-goal deficits to defeat a Grandview Steelers team chasing the final playoff position in the Tom Shaw Conference.
Outshot 37-22 over 60 minutes, North Delta was down 2-0 after one period, but came back to tie the game on goals from Colin Catchpole and Julius Ho less than four minutes into the second.
The Steelers were up 4-2 after 40 minutes, but the Devils rallied for the win. Sam Vikich scored for the visitors early in the final frame, then Stefan Burzan tied the game with six minutes to play, and netted the winner with just 33 seconds left on the clock.
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