The North Van Wolf Pack’s bid for a repeat PJHL championship title came to an early end last week when they were upset four games to two by the Delta Ice Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Pack put together a stellar – and somewhat unexpected – regular season run, topping the league standings despite losing the top seven scorers from last year’s championship team. The magic ran out in the playoffs, however, as Delta took control early in the series and then held off the hungry Wolf Pack.
The Ice Hawks, fourth-place finishers in the Tom Shaw Conference, beat the top-ranked Wolf Pack 5-0 in the playoff opener and followed that up with a 9-3 win in Game 2. Game 3 was closer but Delta still came away with a 2-1 win to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. The Wolf Pack fought back with a 4-0 win in Game 4 followed by a wild 7-6 win in Game 5 to keep their season going, but the Ice Hawks clinched the series on home ice with a 3-0 shutout win in Game 6 held on Feb. 28.
Delta’s Justin Schwartz, Sam Kozlowski and Gary Dhaliwal led the way with seven points in the series while Michael Rand chipped in six. The Pack was led by Mitchell Cobby and Cole Todd who each notched six points in the six games. Cobby was coming off a campaign in which he set a new franchise record with 71 regular season points.
