Three powerplay goals provided a big boost as the Grandview Steelers moved to within a win of advancing to the Pacific Junior B Hockey League semifinals.
The Steelers rode the continued steady netminding of Cale Dolan and a persistent offensive attack to defeat the Richmond Sockeyes 5-4 on Wednesday, moving to a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven quarterfinal series.
And this time, Grandview got it done in the first 60 minutes.
The trio of Mateo Toledo, Mateo Coltellaro and Jared Yau combined for six points, all of it on special teams, as the underdog Steelers erased a 2-1 Richmond lead in a flurry of scoring in the second period. Toledo's first goal of the post-season made it 2-2 midway through the game and was followed 51 seconds later with a tally by Anthony Benevoli to give Grandview a 3-2 advantage. Two minutes later Noah Kelly would tie it with Richmond's second powerplay tally of the period, but Jameson Crawford gave the Burnaby crew the final word of the frame, counting an unassisted marker with 1:04 remaining.
In the third period, Toledo's second of the night, at 12:17, provided a two-goal buffer. The Sockeyes narrowed the lead with 2:41 to play, on Ryan Wellburn's second tally, but couldn't put the equalizer past Dolan.
The Delta native, son of Canadian Soccer Hall of Famer Paul Dolan, turned aside 27 shots.
During the regular season, the Sockeyes claimed third place in the Tom Shaw Conference with a record of 30-10-2-1, 15 points up on fourth-place Grandview.
The series continues tonight (Thursday), 7 p.m. at Richmond's Minoru Arena. A sixth game, if necessary, will go Sunday, 7:15 p.m. at the Burnaby Winter Club.
