Aces Remain Undefeated - Game Summary

Hockey is back! After more than two months off, all four CIHL teams took the ice last Thursday night for what ended up being two very close games. Leading off for the first game of the night were the undefeated Manulife Macau Aces who took on the HKBN Hong Kong Tycoons. The last time these two teams met was in the first game of the season way back in October, which ended in a score of 7-3 in favour of the Aces. But now the team was missing offensive defenseman Tyler Doherty and two other key pieces in Charlie Huber and Matthew Sackney. However, the Tycoons were missing league-leading point getter Nicholas Weberg, so this was bound to be an interesting game.

Starting off the game’s scoring was assistant captain Whitney Olsen, who scored a quick one just two minutes into the opening frame with assists going to supplemental draft pick, Alan Chan, and forward Elvis Hsu. Yannick Wong snapped back for the Tycoons five minutes later with help from Kenden Ng to close off the first period scoring at one goal apiece.

The Tycoons started off the second period hot, Ng buried one 26 seconds in, and then got another one shortly after on the powerplay to put the team up 3-1. The first being an unassisted tally and the second with some help from captain Jonathan Szychta and Yannick Wong. But the Tycoons were not done yet, as an Aces penalty came back to bite them when Preston Kwok scored on the powerplay with assists coming from Szychta and Ng. Things were not looking good for Macau who ended the period trailing by three.

“It’s not over yet,” said Whitney Olsen (probably) between the second and third, as the Aces came out hot- scoring two in the first seven minutes of the frame. Olsen had his second of the night with help from Lokel Wong and Matthew Lee, Jesse Lussier got the next one with assists going to Lennon Au Yeung and Hsu. They did not stop there, as Macau evened things up when Olsen completed the hat trick to bring the score to 4-4 -Lee pitching in with his second helper of the night. Less than a minute later, Olsen added his fourth of the night to give the Aces the lead late in the third.

With 37 seconds left, however, Macau took two penalties in one stoppage to give the Tycoons a rare six-on-three advantage with a pulled goalie. They made no mistake, tying the game up at 5with a mere 14 seconds left in the game. It was an all-out scramble in front of the net when Aaron Lui ended up banging one home with assists going to Y. Wong and Lucas Eshleman. The 3-minute overtime was not able to decide a winner, even with the PP for Hong Kong that lasted roughly half of the extra frame.

The game ended in a 5-5 tie with its fair share of ups and downs. Liam Moorefield-Yee of the Aces faced a whopping 47 shots which gave him an impressive save percentage of .894, while Emerson Keung at the other end turned away 13 shots.

Sharks get First Win of the Season

The second game of the night had the winless Scotiabank South China Sharks facing the AsiaXPAT Kowloon Warriors. With captain Jordan So back from injury and first overall supplemental draft pick Jacob Pentz joining South China, the Sharks were hungry to get into the win column.

It was a slow start to the game, but after Kowloon got the first penalty 8:39 into the opening frame – the Sharks took advantage. Will Allderige was the scorer on the powerplay with help from Ben MacAskill and Pentz. That was the lone goal in the period, as the second period began with the Sharks up 1-0 over the Warriors.

The Warriors were quick to tie the game at one, taking them only two minutes to do so. It was Jake McDonnell putting it home with assists coming from Connor Quinn and Christopher Wong. The Sharks were up next, scoring twice with goals from Michael Shum and leading goal scorer Ryan Chu. Pentz had the helper on Shum’s tuck and So had the lone assist on Chu’s.

There were three more goals in the second, two from the Warriors and one from the Sharks which left us at a score of 4-3 for the Sharks going into the third. Those goals included Quinn with a nice unassisted tally, then South China’s Patrik Hammaren responded with help from MacAskill and Chu. Connor Daly rounded off the high-scoring period with assists coming from Devin Welsh and long-time captain Gregory Smyth.

After the final flood, veteran South China defender Eric Molander struck first with Chu and So chipping in. Next up, Shum put home his second of the night to give the Sharks a commanding 6-3 lead, So had the lone assist. The Warriors weren’t ready to give up yet, Smyth had two back-to-back tallies which narrowed the lead to one. Both goals had single assists, the first coming from Francois Esterhuizen and the second from Daly. Kowloon got into some penalty trouble late into the frame which proved to be costly. MacAskill struck next with his first of the night on the powerplay, Pentz chipped in with the only assist on the play. Quinn got a nice shorthanded goal shortly after off a feed from Welsh and McDonnell, but MacAskill got goal number two on an empty net effort to end the game at a score of 8-6 for the Sharks.

King Ho of South China faced 27 shots in the win, while Warriors’ Ashley Bock saw 35 at the other end. Tune in February 25thwhen the Hong Kong Tycoons take on the Sharks at 8:30pm. After that we have the still-undefeated Macau Aces facing the Warriors.

3 Stars Awards - Game 1
1. Aces – Whitney Olsen, 4G
2. Tycoons – Kenden Ng, 2G, 2A
3. Aces – Matthew Lee, 2A


3 Stars Awards - Game 2
1. Sharks – Ben MacAskill, 2G, 2A
2. Sharks – Michael Shum, 2G
3. Warriors – Gregory Smyth, 2G, 1A