It was a memorable weekend for the
Maitland Pre-Novice Ice Sharks.
The Ice Sharks, trekking to Stratford for
their first tournament, got off to a flying start by winning their first four
games before finally suffering their lone loss in the semi-final at the 12-team
Thunder Spring Spectacular.
“Every single one of our kids should be proud of what they accomplished this past weekend,” said Ice Sharks head coach Jason Pirie. “We might not have gotten the result each team sets out as their goal, but we’re still happy how this team battled its way to the final four at a tournament of this size.”
The Ice Sharks opened the round-robin on Friday evening with an 8-2 win over Scarborough’s Northern Green. They then followed that impressive tourney debut with an 8-3 victory over London’s Pro-Tips Selects and a 7-0 win over the Dorchester Dragons on Saturday.
Game MVP selections in the round-robin were awarded to Nathan Garrett, who would amass 15 goals by tournament’s end, defenceman Logan Burnham, who played stingy defence throughout the entire weekend, and netminder Braden McKinnon, who recorded his first shutout of the spring and surrendered only five goals in the three round-robin tilts.
Concluding the round-robin with a perfect 3-0 record, where they outscored their opponents by a 23-5 margin, the Ice Sharks advanced to the ‘A’ side quarterfinal to face Sarnia’s Bluewater Sharks in what turned out to be the team’s highlight of the weekend.
With the Ice Sharks clutching onto a slim 2-1 lead while shorthanded in the late stages of the contest, Bluewater, electing to pull their goalie for a six-on-four advantage, notched the equalizer with only 15 seconds left on the clock to send the game to a five-minute, four-on-four overtime.
Unable to solve anything in the extra frame, the teams moved to a three-player shootout where the Ice Sharks received nifty goals from both Garrett and Adam MacRobbie and clutch goaltending from McKinnon to book a spot in Sunday’s semi-final.
However, Maitland’s Cinderella run struck midnight on Sunday. Despite battling back from an early two-goal deficit to take a 3-2 lead, and trailing only 5-4 at the midway point of the third period, the Ice Sharks would eventually fall 9-4 to a strong Regional Express East team.
“I think after a long weekend of hockey, and all the excitement that came with the shootout win the night before, it finally caught up to the kids in the late stages of the game and our wheels fell off,” said Pirie. “Still, for these kids to ring off four straight victories at their first tournament together as a group was pretty special. And I’m sure none of these kids, or parents for that matter, will ever forget that shootout win.”
The Ice Sharks next pay a visit to the Collingwood Blue Thunder on Wednesday. Game time at Central Park Arena is 6 p.m.