Jun 08, 2011 | Greg McNevan | 1985 views
Excitng Finish to a Great Season for the Tykes in Sarnia
The tykes finished their season with a semi-final appearance at the Bluewater Tournament in Sarnia this past weekend. Prior to that they made an appearance in the final of the Pro-tips tournament in London Victoria Day weekend.
I cannot say enough about this determined group of 6 and 7 year olds as they proved to be strong competition in each and every game they played in their inaugural spring season. Victoria day weekend we played in the Pro-tips tournament in London. After going 1-2 in the round robin we found ourselves up against CGE Hockey in the semi-final. CGE was a group made up of primarily KW Rangers, who had beat us in 2 exhibition games, and a third time, 6-4, in the round robin game of this tournament. With an early goal in the first period and 3 unanswered in the second the Sharks realized that they could beat this team. All a round this was our best game of the spring to that point and we finished with a 7-4 win, putting us up against Xcelerate in the final. Although we battled hard the entire game, we just couldn't keep up with the strong offence of Xcelerate in this game as they skated to a 10-6 victory.
We ended our season in the Bluewater tournament, which had a group of the most evenly matched teams we had seen in any tournament. We started with a game against the host Bluewater Sharks. The road trip down seemed to effect us at the start of this game as we found ourselves down 3-0 early, and down 6-2 late in the 2nd. With 1 goal late in the 2nd and 3 unanswered in the 3rd we came back to tie the game at 6, before giving up 2 more in an 8-6 loss. Next up was the Soo Stars. This game was back and forth with the Soo always taking the 1 goal lead. It was 2-2 after the first, and remained 2-2 going into the 3rd. In the first 5 minutes of the 3rd the teams would exchange goals again with the Sharks evening the score with 5:14 to go. After that goal the Sharks would sustain pressure and with 2:14 remaining take their first lead of the game. Excellent defence and strong goaltending held off the Stars in the final 2 minutes and the Sharks came away with a 4-3 win. Our 3rd game was against Silver Springs of Windsor. Silver Springs had not lost a game this spring. With a strong start to this game we were up 1-0 after the first. The final 2 periods were a sea saw battle back and forth. This game would end in a 6-6 tie, and 2 1/2 points each in this 5 point per game format (1 point per period, 2 points for the game). This left us in 3rd place after each team had completed 3 round robin games, with 7 1/2 points. There were 4 other teams within 1 point behind us. Our final game against Regional Express West was the last round robin game of the tournament. We needed a minimum of 3 1/2 points to finish in the top 4, and this great group of hockey players would not disappoint as they played their best game of the spring. The result was a convincing 6-1 win and clean sweep of the 5 points available giving us 3rd overall and a rematch against Silver Springs in the semi.
What a semi it was! If parents, grand parents and relatives were not hooked on spring hockey before, they were by the end of this game! After a slow start we found ourselves down 2-0 after the first period, but the kids responded in the second creating chance after chance. After hitting 2 posts and a cross bar the Sharks could still not find the back of the net before Silver Springs made it 3-0. You would think a group this young might get even more discouraged, but not these kids! They got even more determined, and in a 20 second span in the last minute of the 2nd period the Sharks would strike twice, making it 3-2 going into the 3rd. Both teams battled back and forth in the 3rd creating chances at both ends of the ice, and with 1:52 remaining the Sharks would complete the comeback to force overtime! Although Silver Springs would get the first break in overtime and end this game in disappointment, this group proved to be tough competition against each and every team they played all spring.
Congratulations to both players and parents, on a very successful first season of spring hockey. I want to thank all of you for your dedication and efforts in making this season fun and exciting for our kids. The friendships and memories they created will last fore ever. See you all at the Kerr's!