The ’97 Ice Sharks were hungry heading into their third and final tournament, knowing they would be able to put in a good showing in the Etobicoke Top Gun Invitational, held May-16-18th.
In the first game, against the Hockey High-Lites, the Sharks worked hard and pounded out a 4-2 victory, to get the tourney rolling. The second match came against the host Top Gun team. While the Sharks controlled the play and out chanced their opponent, the score ended in a 3-3 tie. Game #3 was against the Zone Training team, who were out to beat the Sharks, after suffering three previous Spring season defeats. The Sharks built an early lead, and were able to hold on for a 4-3 win. This positioned the Ice Sharks in first place after the round robin, for which they drew the Hockey Hi-Lite team to play again.
The Sharks started strong and were rewarded with the game’s first goal. However, the Hi-Lites were playing with determination, and came back with two goals of their own. With the goalie pulled, and only 12 seconds remaining on the clock, the Sharks tied the game up and forced overtime. A five minute, 3 on 3 period was cluttered with penalties, and gave the Sharks a 4 on 3 power play, for a good two minutes. Unable to capitalize, the Sharks then surrendered a goal with three seconds to play, before a shoot-out would have transpired. The Sharks picked a poor time to lose the first game of the tournament, however, there was still a bronze medal to play for.
The bronze medal game was against their newly found rivals, Zone Training. The Zone team played a very physical game, in an attempt to intimidate the Sharks. The Sharks responded with their own physical play, and topped it with some great passing and teamwork. Building a 5-2 lead, the Ice Sharks coasted (not intentionally) to a 5-4 victory, and captured the bronze medals.
In their two previous tournaments, the ‘97’s battled hard and gave all opponents, good games. In fact, the Sharks lead the majority of the games, but had trouble holding off the late surges. This means more conditioning must be required, heading into next spring.
With this being their first spring season together, we’re all positive this group of ’97 Sharks will grow, and be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming years.The coaching staff (Corey McKee, Rob Brown, Dave Van Ooteghem, Steve Anderson & Dick Skinner) are proud of all the players this past spring, feel they worked, played as a team, and created new friendships.
Who are we? Ice Sharks! Who? ICE SHARKS!!
Corey