The 98 Maitland Iceshark Atoms recently participated in the Blue Thunder Cup Tournament in Wasaga Beach and Collingwood Area.
The team wanted to build on the experiences they gained during the recent Regional Express tournament and hopefully apply those life lessons to this tournament and that they did.
The tournament started off well for the team playing Ontario Stingrays and coming away with a 5-2 victory. They continued to carry this momentum over into a game against a team from the Ottawa area called the Jets. The Icesharks were bound and determined to make there mark in the tournament and prove to themselves and their fans that they are a team to be reckoned with. The team came out flying and building a substantial 5 goal lead only to see that 5 goal lead end up being a 1 goal win with a 5-4 victory. The Kids gained some much needed experience in this game playing with a lead, holding it and continuing on for a 3 game wining streak. They took away life lessons from this game that they have to play hard as a team for all three periods.
The next morning saw the team come up against a tough opponent from the Orillia area called the Ice Kings and coming away with a 1-1 tie. Later on that day they played the host team from Collingwood, the Blue Thunder. The kids wanted to come away with a victory to end up first in their division and play on Sunday. This game saw two teams battle hard. The fans were treated too some exciting moments with a penalty shot being stopped midway through the game by the Icesharks goalie. The game ended up being a rough outing with a hard fought 2-0 victory and first place for the Sharks.
Sunday morning had the Icesharks playing there nemesis from Kitchener area called the Edge. The team came away with a 5-1 loss.
The overall weekend was a great success with the kids taking away some great memories and they are all looking forward to their next tournament of the spring in St Thomas because “that’s the way we roll”.