May 12, 2014 | MMorgan | 1368 views
04' North Home With Another Silver Medal
This weekend the boys were in Stratford for the Hockey Hilites tournament. First up was Friday morning vs Regional Express. It wasn't long before the boys knew this was going to be a different type of hockey than the previous weekend.
The boys were under pressure a lot of the game and with strong goaltending, back checking and not giving up until the final whistle the boys were able to keep game from getting out of hand. With a 6-0 loss Sharks moved on and knew what kind of hockey had to be played to compete at this level. Next up was the Blue Water sharks Friday afternoon. With a really slow start the Sharks started the hard forecheck that they are so great at and started creating turnovers and chances to put puck in net. The Sharks were flying all game and battled hard but a couple bounces and mistakes ended up in our net. With the final score 4-3 loss for the sharks, the coaching staff all thought this was their best game to date and they have shown the coaching staff that they can compete with these teams.
Next up was a new Maple team Sat. morning. This was a good comparison for the Sharks with both teams being put together for the first time this year. The Sharks came out flying with a great start and scored right away but, one early mistake like most mistakes ended up in our net. After that the boys tightened up and played a great game. Again playing with a strong forecheck and great team play the boys came out on top with a 5-1 victory. This put the Sharks in 8th place and a game with the Green Gloves that afternoon.
The Green Gloves came out flying but, so did the Sharks. With the Sharks goaltender standing tall in the net the Green Green gloves were getting frustrated and started to crash the net. This led to the physical play in the game to pick up. Third period say the Sharks with a 4-2 lead but, mistakes were costly and some nice plays by the Gloves led to 2 goals to tie the game late. The game was headed to overtime 4 on 4. The Sharks put on Ben Nauta and Noah Swann and looking again for that strong forecheck. Wasn't to long after the drop of the puck Ben went hard into the offensive zone with the forecheck and got the puck centered it to Noah in the slot and the game was over. What a great game to watch and coach. WOW. This meant B side final for the Sharks.
Sunday saw the Sharks play KW selects. This was a new team also with 8 or their players playing for the Waterloo wolves and 4 that play AAA in Cambridge. This again wasn't the Sharks best start with a goal coming against them in the first few minutes. Then the game was on and it was back and forth and could have went either way. The Sharks were down 4-3 when Chase Mann kept the puck in at the blue line and undressed the forward coming at him and slid a perfect backhand pass to Elliott McCarey for a one timer wrist shot past the goalie. Another overtime 4 on 4. Another great hockey game. Wasn't to long in this one either when a couple of bad bounces led to a breakaway. Owen Morgan made the stop but, when everyone came into the net he fell forward and puck slide out from under him and into the net. The boys were in disbelief and didn't know what to do as they played and competed so hard.
We have been in two tournament thus far and have came home with two Silver medals, the kids should be very proud of what they have accomplished. The coaching staff is very excited to be a part of this team and cant wait for next tournament in Burlington.