May 12, 2011 | cmckee | 848 views
'98's Compete @ Regional Tournament
The '98 Ice Sharks ran into some stiff competition at their first tournament of the year, in Brantford on April 29-30th.
In the first game against the Vipers from Port Erie, the Sharks dominated the play from start to finish, to earn a 6-0 victory. All three lines contributed to the scoring, and had numerous opportunities. Both Viper goalies played very well, otherwise the score would have been considerably higher. Tristen Lewis earned the shutout for the Sharks.
The second game was up against a much tougher opponent, Pro Hockey out of London. The Sharks suffered a 4-1 loss, but the score was a misrepresentation of the actual game. Both teams battled back and forth throughout the game and each had great scoring opportunities, including a couple posts hit by the Ice Sharks. Trailing 2-1 late in the third the Sharks earned a powerplay opportunity. After hitting another post, a Pro Hockey player snuck behind the Shark defencemen. After being hauled down, Pro Hockey was awarded a penalty shot. Their player eluded an attempted poke check by Shark goalie Joab Egbers, and made a great recovery to place the puck in the top of the net. Pro Hockey would add an empty netter at the buzzer. Overall though, the Shark team put out a great effort.
The third game was up against the Regional Express Blue, and resulted in a 4-0 loss. The Sharks could not seem to get moving, and were perhaps still shaken from the disappointing loss in game number two.
Game four was against a group from the GTHL, called the Ontario Thunder. The Thunder team capitalized on their scoring opportunities and walked away with a 6-2 win.
Overall, the Ice Shark competed well against three notch notch spring hockey teams. Many were using this tournament as a warm up for the top tournaments coming up in Toronto. With many new facing, the team is adjusting to work together, and should find more success in their upcoming tournaments.